Sharon Osbourne is in talks to bring back Ozzfest.
The travelling heavy metal festival takes its names from Sharon’s late husband, Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne.
In a new interview with Billboard, Sharon revealed that she’s “taking to Live Nation” about the return, with 2027 eyed as its return date.
“It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people,” she told the publication. “We really started metal festivals in this country. It was [replicated but] never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”
Ozzfest was born in 1996, after the established Lollapalooza refused to feature Ozzy on its lineup. The inaugural Ozzfest brought Ozzy, Slayer, Danzig, Sepultura, and more to Phoenix and San Bernardino in the US.
After the festival expanded into the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Japan, its final edition took place in Inglewood, California, in 2018.
Sharon previously discussed the demise of Ozzfest in a podcast episode in 2023.
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“It was a very weird beast,” she said on The Osbournes at the time, “because all the bands were our mates, but the managers were greedy, and for some reason they thought that we were making billions on it and we weren’t. We made a profit. But it was not like – we couldn’t retire on it. And 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.”
Ozzy died on July 22nd last year at the age of 76. He passed a few weeks after playing his farewell concert, Back to the Beginning, in his hometown of Birmingham, England.
The massive concert featured Metallica, Lamb of God, Gojira, and many, many more metal and rock icons. Ozzy performed both alone and as part of Black Sabbath at the concert.
