LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Tour promoter giant Live Nation and Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne have announced that Ozzfest 2007 will let fans in for free.
The touring rock festival is gearing up for its twelfth year, dubbed Freefest. The show will kick off at Los Angeles on July 7 and make stops at San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Nashville. More dates may be announced.
"For the last few years," says Sharon Osbourne, "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."
Its not as easy as just showing up though. To gain entry to the festival, fans will be directed to Ozzfest.com or livenation.com where they will find links to participating sponsors sites where tickets can actually be acquired.
The free tickets will influence the lineup for the event. Ozzy will be returning to the main stage as a headliner, after performing on the second stage last year. As for the rest of the lineup, its yet to be announced. Sharon Osbourne said "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."
A number of bands have gotten off to a good start in the Ozzfest circuit, bands like System of a Down, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Incubus, Slipknot, Queens of the Stoneage and Godsmack. Along with supporting bands on the rise including Avenged Sevenfold, Mudvayne, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and Lacuna Coli, among others.
"Ozzfest was created to keep this genre of music alive by showcasing new talent," added Sharon. "You better believe we’re going to keep perpetuating that by hand-picking compelling new bands that are hungry for Ozzfest's career-making exposure." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
