Ozzy to rock for free
Staff Reporter
Wed, 07 Feb 2007
The annual Ozzfest hard rock tour, originally a showcase for veteran metal star Ozzy Osbourne, will be free for all this year.
Tickets to the event, which has grown into one of the United States' biggest touring music festivals, will not be charged for, the organisers revealed on Tuesday.
Costs for the 25-date tour, set to begin in Los Angeles on 7 July and headlined by Osbourne, will be covered by a series of sponsorship deals.
Tour creator, reality TV star and wife of the Black Sabbath frontman, Sharon Osbourne, cited ticket prices rising to an extent that average teen fans could no longer afford them.
"For the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours," she said.
"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," Osbourne explained.
"If we continued with the traditional touring festival model, we would have no choice but to raise ticket prices again this year."
The announcement began with Ozzy, as famous for biting the head off a bat as his part in the MTV reality series 'The Osbournes', spraypainting the word "free" across an Ozzfest 2007 poster.
"We're reaching the same point we did years ago when kids no longer wanted to pay for overpriced CDs," his wife said. "As a result, they found alternative ways of getting music. That's what's happening with summer touring in this country, it's outpricing itself."
The unprecedented move is the first time that no admission fee will be charged for a festival music tour in the US.
Last year the tour grossed $19-million as ticket prices averaged between $45 and $50. The most expensive tickets cost $150.
This year the free tickets will mostly be made available through online outlets, with all the performers (including the headliner) playing for free.
"It's business as usual, except it's free. We want to encourage new music and new talent," Sharon Osbourne explained.
Performing bands will be able to sell their own CDs and merchandise.
And, despite the new ticketing approach, there won't be a change to the formula: multiple outdoor stages of hard-rock bands throughout the day.
"We're not about to have 20 chanting monks," she said.
"We're not going to save the forest. We just rape and pillage and go home."
"It's our 12th year and we wanted to shake it up a bit and do something different," she explained of the move.
"It's not saying that I'm now Mother Teresa or that Ozzy is a saint but you know what? He's been doing this a long time and his audience has been really good to him," she added.
"So, if he goes out one summer of his life and he doesn't get paid, big deal."
The rocker, for his part joked: "It's free to come in, but you're gonna have to pay to get out."
The line-up and tour stops would be revealed within two weeks, Sharon Osbourne said.
"We have bands committed, but we're hoping that after today's announcement, we'll have a whole influx of artists who want to be a part of something this groundbreaking," she explained.
Although the longtime promoter didn’t expect artists to "tour all summer for nothing", she invited them to "come out and play a date or two".
The tour will stop in cities like Seattle, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston and Miami.
Asked if Ozzfest 2007 would be the last for Ozzy, both he and his wife snapped: "No way!"
"He's been touring 30, 35 years, and he's done very well, and it's time to give something back," she added.
The veteran rocker is expected to perform songs from his new solo album, due for release at the end of June.
Since its inception, Ozzfest has showcased several rising names including System of a Down, Incubus and Linkin Park.
leflaw
sinai
lowdbrent
Dreddsnik
independentm...
aflunky
gdZiemann
