Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, initiators of touring festival Ozzfest featuring famous headliners sharing a bill with upcoming artists, are pulling the plug on ticket prices. Along with tour producer Live Nation, Ozzy and Sharon broke the news at the Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles.
\"For the last few years ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours. We certainly want everybody to make money, however we also want the kids to be able to afford to come out and have an incredible experience. If we continued with the traditional touring festival model, we would have no choice but to raise ticket prices again this year.\"
Ozzfest and Live Nation will turn to sponsors to provide added support for the festival\'s new incarnation. Ozzfest 2007 will provide select sponsors with a unique opportunity to engage fans one-on-one utilizing one of music\'s best known brands. Compares Sharon:
\"We\'re reaching the same point we did years ago when kids no longer wanted to pay for overpriced cds. As a result, they found alternative ways of getting music. That\'s what\'s happening with summer touring in this country, it\'s out-pricing itself. We started this and we want to keep it and we want to make it bigger and bigger each year by getting bigger sponsors to be involved with the festival and underwriting the festival. That\'s what it\'s about.\"
To gain entry into the event, fans will go to www.ozzfest.com or www.livenation.com to find links that will direct them to special sponsor sites where tickets can be secured. More details regarding the process are forthcoming.
Ozzy headlining again
As Ozzfest\'s founder and namesake, Ozzy will make his return to the headlining position on this year\'s mainstage after surprising fans in 2006 by performing on the down-and-dirty second stage at a handful of dates. Audiences can expect the Prince of Darkness to unveil new songs from his forthcoming studio album, Ozzy\' s first disc of new material since 2001.
While the rest of the in-progress bill is under wraps, Sharon points out:
\"we have bands committed, but we\'re hoping that we\'ll have a whole influx of artists who want to be a part of something this ground breaking. We know there aren\'t any major headlining acts that would tour all summer for nothing, but we\'re confident we can turn some of the genre\'s biggest bands on to what we\'re doing and have them come out to play a date or two. If they\'re in town and want the rush of performing in front of 20,000 frenzied kids, they\'re more than welcome to join us. They can sell their t-shirts, cds and whatever else they\'ve got. They\'re also welcome to book their own shows in local venues on the day of Ozzfest. I\' m not stopping them. People have to be creative and think of alternatives.\"
Ozzfest as jumping board
Since 1996, Ozzfest has been a virtual breeding ground for rising bands. The festival has been instrumental in igniting the careers of platinum-selling artists like System of a Down, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Incubus, Slipknot, Queens of the Stone Age and Godsmack. Along with supporting bands on the rise including Avenged Sevenfold, Mudvayne, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and Lacuna Coil, among others.
