If you were into rock and metal throughout the late '90s and early 2000s, Ozzfest was a very, very big deal to you. Ozzfest ran as a touring entity between 1996 and 2010, and then as a one-off thing between 2013 and 2018 (sometimes in conjunction with Knotfest). There was also that terrible 2022 digital version, but we try to ignore that.
Now according to Sharon Osbourne in the most recent episode of The Osbournes podcast, it might come back.
Ozzy first asked Sharon if she'd ever considering reviving the festival, to which Sharon replied (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): "Yeah, sure. Of course." Then of course came the talk of money after their daughter Kelly mentioned managers being "realistic" about what everyone should be paid.
"It's great. That's what we wanted — everybody to do spin-offs and do their own festivals, and it's great," said Sharon. "It's great for fans; it's brilliant. But why is it when it comes to us that everybody thinks that we are trillionaires, and so that every manager who wants their band on our festival wants one of the fucking trillions they think we've got to put on the festival?"
Which isn't a surprising comment considering Sharon had previously voiced her gripes about everyone wanting to get paid more (more? Fairly? Who knows), saying in a previous episode: "…managers and agents wanted more and more and more, and it just wasn't cost effective anymore. We stopped, because it just wasn't cost effective."
The good news is that Ozzfest – as a future, hypothetical entity – is still interested in breaking new bands. "It's always great to have the baby stage," said Sharon. "I mean, that's what it's all about — breaking new bands. That's why we did it."
She continued: "It's very hard for acts who are not known to suddenly go and be in front of 50,000 people on a main stage at a festival and understand what they're meant to do. It's very intimidating. You could have maybe five thousand people at that baby stage, and then to go from five to fifty to sixty thousand people, and it's really, really hard for baby bands. They've pay their dues anyway. That's what it's all about."
Of course the real question here is how Ozzfest would differentiate itself from all the other major touring festivals and packages that go around these days. So who knows – maybe it'll rule?
