Ozzfest Costs Less! - Osbourne Affair To Be A FREE One This Year

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According to Roadrunner Records' heavy metal newsite Blabbermout, Sharon Osbourne and Live Nation are now feverishly working on plans to make 2007 Ozzfest shows absolutely cost-free. You heard me right, it won't cost a dime The announcement was made today at the Concert Industry Consortium conference in Los Angeles

"For the last few years," says Sharon, "ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours. 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. If we continued with the traditional touring festival model, we would have no choice but to raise ticket prices again this year."

In the 12th year of this large and influential rock extravaganza, The Osbournes and Live Nation still intend for the festival to hit 25 major cities with the festival's namesake dark prince himself finally reclaiming the headlining slot (after a recent hiatus). In order to foot the cost of this hefty production, the concert promoters will be pushing even harder for sponsorship. However it appears that Sharon is looking at the event in a newer, more groundbreaking way:

"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 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. They can sell their t-shirts, CDs and whatever else they've got. They're also welcome to book their own shows in local venues on the day of Ozzfest. I'm not stopping them. People have to be creative and think of alternatives."

So while hell hasn't exactly frozen over, the fact that ANYONE is giving ANYTHING away for free in this industry is incredible. I am excited to hear this news and with prices like this, I guess I'll see you in the pit.