The main-stage lineup for the 10th-anniversary Ozzfest will be Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Black Label Society, Billboard.biz has learned.
The Hot Topic second stage will be headlined by Rob Zombie and will feature rising acts such as As I Lay Dying, Mastodon, the Haunted, In Flames, Arch Enemy, the Black Dahlia Murder, Bury Your Dead, Soilwork, Trivium and A Dozen Furies.
Ozzfest will begin July 15 at the Tweeter Center in Boston and will play 26 cities, wrapping Sept. 4 at the Sound Advice Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Fla. Returning sponsors include Hot Topic, FYE, Sony PlayStation and Trojan.
Ozzy Osbourne says he and wife Sharon started Ozzfest after he was rebuffed from another festival. “How it started was Sharon asked Lollapalooza if we could get a spot on their tour, and they said there’s no room. I don’t know if it was me in particular or for that kind of music. And Sharon got pissed and said, ‘Fuck them, we’ll do our own thing.’ ”
Ticket on-sale information will be announced soon. A limited number of fans who purchase Osbourne’s four-CD retrospective boxed set “Prince of Darkness” (due March 22 on Epic) will be able to get one free general-admission Ozzfest ticket with the purchase of a ticket.
Tickets will range from $35 on the lawn to $85 for gold circle. “We really, really try so hard to keep the costs down, we really do,” says Sharon Osbourne. “We’re not one of these that say, ‘We’ve got great bands, we can really yank the ticket prices and squeeze Joe Public.’ We try to bring the best talent for the best prices. I wish a beer cost the same as it did 10 years ago, too.”
Ozzfest is the top-grossing touring festival of all time and, aside from the Vans Warped tour, the longest-lived. Since 1996, Ozzfest has grossed $172 million and drawn 4.2 million fans to about 240 shows, according to producer Clear Channel Entertainment. Ozzfest is booked by Creative Artists Agency.
Jane Holman, GM of CCE’s touring division and producer of Ozzfest, is excited about this year’s lineup. “It was a real coup to get Iron Maiden this year,” she says. “To have Iron Maden playing with Black Sabbath is incredible. Heads will explode.”
