Ozzfest has been on pause since 2018, but Sharon Osbourne confirmed that the annual heavy metal festival could make a return. On the latest episode of The Osbournes Podcast, Sharon revealed there is a possibility of a comeback.
During the episode, Ozzy Osbourne asked Sharon, his wife, about the festival. “Not just one [at] the fucking Forum, but a whole Ozzfest?” he inquired. “Yeah, sure,” Sharon replied. “Of course.”
“But it always comes down to: Are the bands and managers going to be realistic though?” Kelly Osbourne chimed in.
Sharon added that it’s “great for fans” that others have done spin-offs and alternative festivals before agreeing with Kelly. “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?” Sharon asked.
The family recalled the early iterations of Ozzfest, which included acts like Pantera, Sepultura, and Soulfly, but noted that it’s important to them to showcase up-and-coming artists as well. “It’s always great to have the baby stage,” Sharon said. “That’s what it’s all about: breaking new bands. That’s why we did it.”
Jack noted that most of the new metal festivals are “basically just Ozzfest.” “It’s the same bands just going around and around and around and around,” Sharon agreed. “But that’s what’s so good, because we started something, people have taken it, and it’s still great for the genre.
The most recent iteration of Ozzfest was held in 2018 at the Forum in Los Angeles. It featured Rob Zombie, Jonathan Davis, Marilyn Manson, and Ozzy Osbourne, among others.
Ozzy recently admitted that he may never perform live again after years of medical issues — including a recent spinal surgery that also uncovered a tumor. In July, Osbourne called off his headlining set at the upcoming Power Trip festival, which would have seen him co-headlining alongside Metallica, AC/DC, and Guns N’ Roses. Osbourne was able to make two live performances, one in Birmingham, England, and the other in Los Angeles, in 2022, but each lasted only one or two songs, and he had a stand that he could lean against in case he needed it.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, and if I can perform again, I will,” Osbourne told Rolling Stone UK in November. “But it’s been like saying farewell to the best relationship of my life. At the start of my illness, when I stopped touring, I was really pissed off with myself, the doctors, and the world. But as time has gone on, I’ve just gone, ‘Well, maybe I’ve just got to accept that fact.’”
He continued, “I’m not going to get up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy looking for sympathy. What’s the fucking point in that? I’m not going up there in a fucking wheelchair. I’ve seen Phil Collins perform recently, and he’s got virtually the same problems as me. He gets up there in a wheelchair! But I couldn’t do that.”
