(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Ozzy Osbourne will take to the stage for 10 of the 20 planned shows on this summer’s Ozzfest 2006 tour, along with hard rockers Disturbed, System of a Down, Hatebreed, and Lacuna Coil. Another special guest will be announced on May 23rd.
The second stage will be headlined by Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society, Atreyu, Unearth, Bleeding Through, Norma Jean, A Life Once Lost, Strapping Young Lad, the Red Chord, Full Blown Chaos, All That Remains, and Between the Buried and Me.
The tour, produced by Live Nation and booked by the Martha Vlasic Organization Ltd., will launch from San Franciso on July 1st, and visit 20 cities nationwide at yet-to-be-announced venues.
The Ozzfest shows will be Ozzy Osbourne’s first solo performances in three years, as he has appeared with Black Sabbath in both 2004 and 2005 on the tour. Osbourne will let another band close half of the dates on this tour “because after 10 years I feel it's time to let someone else share the headlining spotlight,” Ozzy said in a statement. “We want to shake it up a bit this year. I've closed virtually every Ozzfest performance for a decade now, and I feel I can finally let other artists headline our festival and that's my intention for the future.”
The Ozzfest ‘Village of the Damned’ concourse attractions will again be an active part of the tour, courting a string of corporate sponsors including Monster Energy Drink, Hot Topic, Sony PlayStation, F.Y.E., Trojan and Jagermeister.
Since it’s debut in 1996, Ozzfest has grossed $186,226,304 and drawn 4,699,900 fans to 287, according to Billboard and CelebrityAccess box office reports. The touring festival was created by Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne, and has gone on to become the standard in hard rock music events. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
