40 Fun Facts About Ozzfest

Ozzfest was created after which touring festival refused to book Ozzy in the mid-1990s?

Lollapalooza's bookers reportedly dismissed Ozzy as uncool, so his wife and manager built a rival tour around him instead.

What did some of the crowd throw at Iron Maiden during the band's last Ozzfest show in 2005?

Eggs rained down during the opening song, and the sound was cut three times in a feud with the festival's organizers.

Which Hollywood actress fronted the metal band Wicked Wisdom on the second stage of Ozzfest 2005?

Jada Pinkett Smith faced fans who doubted the booking, but said the mood turned around about seven dates into the tour.

Which nu metal band emerged from a giant toilet prop at the start of each of its Ozzfest 1998 sets?

Limp Bizkit brought out the 30-foot prop after being heckled, and punctuated sets by flushing cardboard cutouts of pop stars.

Ozzfest 2008 was a single show at a Texas soccer stadium then named after which restaurant chain?

Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, home of FC Dallas, added a third stage that day just for bands from the state.

How were tickets to Ozzfest 2007 priced, a move that left sponsors funding the tour and bands unpaid?

Free of charge was the offer, with tickets handed out through sponsor websites, and the tour was nicknamed Freefest.

Which masked band made its first tour on the Ozzfest 1999 second stage, just before its debut album?

Slipknot won a much bigger audience on the tour, which lifted the self-titled album the band released that June.

Which rapper and actor brought his metal band Body Count to the one-night Ozzfest at the Forum in 2018?

Ice-T co-founded Body Count with guitarist Ernie C out of a shared love of heavy metal, and writes most of its lyrics.

Which instrument do the members of Apocalyptica, who played Ozzfest 2008, use in place of guitars?

Cellos have been the group's trademark since it formed as a quartet at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy in 1993.

Which band co-headlined with Ozzy when Ozzfest shrank to a single stadium date in 2008?

Metallica were joined on stage that night by King Diamond for a medley of Mercyful Fate songs.

On which holiday was the one-night Ozzfest of 2018 held, at the Forum arena near Los Angeles?

New Year's Eve was picked because Ozzy hates the holidays and always wanted a gig that night, and no summer tour had run in 2018.

In March 2026, Ozzfest was announced to return in 2027 with two nights at Villa Park in which English city?

Birmingham is Ozzy's home city, and Villa Park is where he played his final show with Black Sabbath in July 2025.

Protesters tried to force which controversial act off the Ozzfest bill in both 1997 and 2001?

Marilyn Manson played both tours, and in 1997 Ozzy sued the New Jersey stadium authority that had tried to block the show.

Which band played the Ozzfest 2001 main stage as its debut became America's best-selling album of the year?

Linkin Park shot parts of a music video at stops along the tour, while Hybrid Theory sold 4.8 million US copies that year.

Which Finnish band in monster costumes, winners of Eurovision 2006, played the Ozzfest 2007 main stage?

Lordi had won the contest with Hard Rock Hallelujah, and went from the festival into a US tour with Type O Negative.

Which network aired Battle for Ozzfest in 2004, a reality contest with a slot on the tour as its prize?

MTV, already home to the family's hit reality show, had eight bands compete across twelve episodes, with online voters picking the winner.

Which Ozzy song did Japanese guitar prodigy Yuto Miyazawa play with him on stage at Ozzfest 2010?

Crazy Train was a duet the pair had already tried at BlizzCon the year before, where it served as the first encore.

Which rocker and horror film director headlined the second stage of Ozzfest 2005?

Rob Zombie topped the smaller stage while Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden shared the main one, and he was back for the 2018 show.

Which of Ozzy's children helped run Ozzfest, advising on promising young acts for the bill?

Jack had worked as a talent scout for Epic Records, so he was well placed to tip his mother off about rising bands.

Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson allegedly mocked Ozzy's reliance on which stage aid at Ozzfest 2005?

A teleprompter was the alleged target, along with the family's reality TV fame, though Dickinson later denied having a go at Ozzy.

Which metal festival joined forces with Ozzfest for two-day California events in 2016 and 2017?

Knotfest took one day of each weekend and the older festival the other, under a shared banner that named them both.

Which singer on the Ozzfest 2004 bill fronted Black Sabbath for a night when Ozzy fell ill?

Rob Halford, newly reunited with Judas Priest, stepped in at Camden, New Jersey, a day after his 53rd birthday, when bronchitis sidelined Ozzy.

Which Ozzfest 2006 headliner played its last show before a long hiatus on that tour, in Florida?

System of a Down had started out on the festival's second stage in 1998, and guitarist Daron Malakian promised the Florida crowd a return.

Which band pulled out of Ozzfest 2002 after its singer Dave Williams was found dead on the tour bus?

Drowning Pool had broken through a year earlier with the album Sinner; an autopsy found Williams had an undiagnosed heart condition.

Which Southwestern city hosted the very first Ozzfest show in October 1996, a day before the California date?

Phoenix opened what was only a two-day event that year; the festival grew into a national tour the following summer.

Which touring festival merged with Ozzfest for one day in 1998, creating a six-stage, 48-band event?

Warped Tour and its heavier rival drew some 39,000 fans to Float Rite Park in Wisconsin for twelve hours of music.

Which band, founders of the rival Family Values Tour, joined the Ozzfest main stage in 2003 behind Ozzy?

Korn wrote the album Take a Look in the Mirror in a hurry that year, squeezed by the summer on the road.

Which thrash band shared top billing with Ozzy at the first Ozzfest in 1996 and returned in 1999 and 2004?

Slayer played those 1996 shows with a newly recruited drummer, Jon Dette, after Paul Bostaph left the band.

Which band, co-headliner of Ozzfest 1998, agreed to play only if the Melvins were added to the bill?

Tool wanted at least one act on the tour that its members liked, so the sludge veterans got a second-stage slot despite the organizers' doubts.

Which alternative rock band was the odd one out on the main stage of the first Ozzfest UK in 1998?

Foo Fighters were among the lightest acts of the day, on a bill topped by Black Sabbath at the Milton Keynes Bowl.

Which Canadian band, touring its debut album Spit, was the only all-female act on the Ozzfest 2000 bill?

Kittie were only the second all-female band ever to play the festival, and spent the two-month run on its second stage.

Buying an advance copy of which 2007 Ozzy album was one way for fans to get tickets to that summer's Ozzfest?

Black Rain came in limited-edition copies with a special code inside, each good for a pair of tickets.

Which English racing circuit, long the home of Monsters of Rock, hosted Ozzfest in 2002?

Donington Park had staged its famous rock festival from 1980 to the mid-1990s, and a year after this visit it became home to Download.

Which Texas band played the Ozzfest main stage in 1997 and 2000, then split up three years later?

Pantera went out and jammed for the Columbus crowd in 1997 after Ozzy lost his voice and the headline sets were called off.

Glen Helen Amphitheater, an Ozzfest stop in 2016 and 2017, is in which Southern California city?

San Bernardino's amphitheater is the largest outdoor music venue in the United States, with more than 54,000 places on its lawn alone.

Which supergroup joined the Ozzfest 2005 main stage for the closing dates, after Iron Maiden's run had ended?

Velvet Revolver came aboard on August 23, three days after the last Iron Maiden show, and stayed until the finale in early September.

Which Dallas metalcore band won the 2004 reality contest Battle for Ozzfest, earning a slot on the 2005 tour?

A Dozen Furies also won a record deal with Sanctuary Records, released a single album and disbanded in 2006.

Which Faith No More drummer sat in for Bill Ward when Black Sabbath reunited for Ozzfest 1997?

Mike Bordin was already drumming in Ozzy's solo band on the tour, so he simply stayed behind the kit for the closing Sabbath set.

Which Wayne's World director filmed the Ozzfest 1999 documentary We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll?

Penelope Spheeris shot it in high-definition video, and it won Most Popular Documentary at the 2001 Melbourne International Film Festival.

Which Chicago band was promoted from the second stage to open the main stage early in the Ozzfest 2000 tour?

Disturbed moved up when Crazy Town left the tour, and was back on the main stage in 2001, 2003 and 2006.