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Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne broke the news recently that their 12th annual hard rock spectacular will kick off a 25-date extravaganza July 7 in Los Angeles and will pull the plug on ticket prices under the postulation of giving the power back to the fans and calling this summer’s Ozzfest "Freefest."
"For the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours," said Sharon. "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."
"We're reaching the same point we did years ago when kids no longer wanted to pay for overpriced CDs," continued Sharon. "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."
Don’t tell that to the likes of Bruce Springsteen and The Eagles, but rarely does a touring festival have the staying power of a singular act. Lollapalooza is the prime example, the alternative rock circus that bottomed out after seven years in the 90s, then took a few years off and tried to unsuccessfully return to a nationwide presence in 2003. It has recently found new life as a three-day event in just one city; Chicago.
Launched in 1996, Ozzfest has creaked into its first decade, is no longer a top event, and slowly fell out of the Top 10 highest grossing at the end of the season. And with Ozzy solo or with Black Sabbath as the main draw threatening each year to be his last, it wouldn’t have been a shock if the demise of the one time juggernaut was announced instead of this new radical configuration where costs will be shifted, ads will be more prominent and hopefully, the fans will win out.
How will organizers do it? Ticket allocation seems to be figured out; to gain entry into the event, fans can go to either the Ozzfest or Live Nation homepage to find links that will direct them to special sponsor sites where tickets can be secured. But what about the financial logistics?
It’s actually a somewhat simple combination of three mitigating factors. First, and most important, is sponsorship. Expect to see advertiser’s signage plastered all over the Ozzfest venue, on the ticket, and in ads promoting the event. Jagermiester, a longtime sponsor of the festival, will roll out its own state of the art, fully self-contained platform for the best place to catch new and upcoming acts, the second stage.
This brings us to another aspect which offsets fees, and that’s the second stage bands, which pay to play. Long a dirty secret of Ozzfest, green acts accustomed to breaking down in vans across the country just to play for a few dozen people on any given night, are suddenly handed the chance to play in front of thousands -- for a price.
Starting at $75,000 and rumored to be nearing $100,000, it becomes less of a privilege and more of a scratch and claw expense for many acts not accustomed to spending what works out to be approximately $3,000 a night to play for 20 minutes a pop. No money is paid to these artists, with the argument being that the amount of publicity and possibility garnered on Ozzfest is priceless.
In recent years, current headliners like Incubus, System of a Down and Rob Zombie all did time on the second stage. By the same token, so did Apartment 26, Slaves on Dope and Crazy Town, bands that might make even the most well-versed music fan ask "Who?"
And while the jury is still out on just how powerful the second stage is, there is little doubt that a slot on the main stage is not only prestigious, but also a sign in the metal genre that a band has made it. Veterans include Iron Maiden, Linkin Park and Marilyn Manson, but, would any of those bands do the gig for free? Because the third factor in turning Ozzfest successfully into Freefest asks that very question, and Sharon Osbourne is pushing for an answer in the affirmative.
"We have bands committed," she says, "But we’re hoping that after (announcing Freefest) 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."
Osbourne brings up a valid backup plan that has been implemented by bands often in years past, what has become known as the "Off-Fest" dates.
The way it works, if Ozzfest comes to the Tweeter Center in Camden on July 22, but doesn’t set up again until the July 26 in East Rutherford, there’s a three-day window for any band to play between Philadelphia and New York -- on its own terms.
