The triumphant return of Ozzy Osbourne’s eponymous summer music festival, Ozzfest, is official. The veteran rocker and self-declared Prince of Darkness went on hiatus from the annual outing in 2009, but he’ll be back on the road in late summer with six festival dates.
Tour stops have been confirmed from coast to coast, beginning with an August 14 event at San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore, CA, and continuing through an August 24 show at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA. Each market on the itinerary will feature two stages and performances by 13 bands.
Other festival dates on the calendar are August 17 at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL; August 19 at First Niagara Pavilion in Burgettstown, PA; August 21 at Comcast Theatre in Hartford, CT; and August 22 at Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ.
Public onsales begin May 22 for all tour dates; ticket prices were not revealed in the official Ozzfest announcement. More details on the tour and event ticketing are available on the official Ozzfest Web site.
Mötley Crüe is co-headlining the brief summer 2010 trek with Osbourne and his band, marking the first time both groups will tour together since 1984.
Rob Halford, frontman for Judas Priest, will also perform a full-length set on Ozzfest’s main stage, as well as DevilDriver and Nonpoint. The second stage will be headlined by Black Label Society in their seventh Ozzfest appearance, with supporting sets from Drowning Pool, Kingdom of Sorrow and Skeletonwitch, among others.
Ozzfest debuted in 1996 and toured the nation annually through 2007. But in 2008, Osbourne announced that the festival would instead take the form of a one-off concert co-headlined by Metallica at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, TX. That event saw an attendance near 30,000 and grossed nearly $3.5 million, according to then-promoter AEG Live.
Osbourne put his namesake festival on hold in 2009 so he could return to the studio. With the resulting album “Scream” set for a June 15 release, the former Black Sabbath vocalist will have new material to showcase on this year’s tour. His backing band features bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, drummer Tommy Clufetos and keyboardist Adam Wakeman, along with new guitarist Gus G.
Ozzfest 2010 itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)
| August 14 | Devore, CA | San Manuel Amphitheater |
| August 17 | Tinley Park, IL | First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre |
| August 19 | Burgettstown, PA | First Niagara Pavilion |
| August 21 | Hartford, CT | Comcast Theatre |
| August 22 | Camden, NJ | Susquehanna Bank Center |
| August 24 | Mansfield, MA | Comcast Center |
