During an interview with SiriusXM's Page Six Radio, Jack Osbourne, son of legendary Black Sabbath frontman/metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne, dropped a few details about the upcoming relaunch of Ozzfest. First established in 1996, the annual music festival tour featured an array of styles across metal and hard rock and was an early proving ground for bands that would come to dominate the heavy music scene, particularly in the early 2000s. Bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, System of a Down, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Tool, Sevendust, Fear Factory, Kittie, Coal Chamber, Godsmack, and P.O.D. gained widespread exposure performing alongside veteran acts like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Slayer, and Pantera.
While Ozzfest has typically been a multi-day affair, Jack says this new iteration is "not gonna be a multi-day thing... it's just gonna be one day." So far, the only confirmed venue for the fest is Villa Park in Birmingham, UK, the hometown of the late Ozzy. The venue was also the site of Back To The Beginning, the final concert from Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath in July 2025.
As the fest's return approaches, Jack notes both the excitement and key announcements on the horizon:
It’s been interesting, 'cause it’s kind of like finding the old car in the shop and being, like, 'All right, let's get this engine going.' But it's cool. There's a lot of excitement around it. And we're gonna announce pretty soon — I think in the next couple of weeks we’re gonna announce kind of who the main headliner is and where we’re doing it. So it’s been nice.
Several stops in the U.S. are set to follow the resurrected fest's kick-off in Villa Park. Osbourne's family, including his wife Sharon Osbourne, will curate the fest lineup with an emphasis being placed on newer artists and artists with ties to Ozzy. One rumored potential headliner is Judas Priest, who were unable to attend Back To The Beginning and have a long history with Ozzy. Another possible headliner is YUNGBLUD, an Ozzy protégé who won a Grammy for his performance of "Changes" with Black Sabbath at Back To The Beginning.
Despite the obvious excitement, the revival is not without its challenges. Recent years have seen the proliferation of fests like Sick New World and We Were Young capitalizing on early 2000s nostalgia, which makes the asking price for certain Ozzfest veterans unfeasible:
It's just really difficult now. It’s really difficult to kind of, like, 'All right, who's doing what?' 'Cause a lot of huge bands now are doing their own festivals, they’re doing their own thing, so it’s, like, 'All right, who’s not got their own festival? Who’s available? Who's reasonably priced?' Because with all these huge festivals, artists are, like, 'Yeah, I’ll do it for, like, 10 million dollars.' You're, like, 'Eh.'
