Ozzfest 2008 Grosses $3.5 Million...

Ozzfest 2008 Grosses $3.5 Million; OZZY Inks New Three-Album Deal With Sony

Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 at 16:42:07 EST

The following report is courtesy of Ray Waddell from Billboard.biz:

Ozzfest 2008, with METALLICA and OZZY OSBOURNE as headliners, grossed nearly $3.5 million and drew close to 30,000 people to Dallas' Pizza Hut Park, according to producers Sharon Osbourne and AEG Live. Sponsored by Affliction Clothing, this year's Ozzfest marked the return of the 13-year-old music brand after a free run at amphitheaters last year.

This year's one-off event did "fantastically well," Sharon Osbourne tells Billboard.biz. "The one thing is you want for the kids to go away and keep talking about what a great show it was, and that's what they're doing."

In addition to Metallica and Osbourne, mainstage acts were SERJ TANKIAN, HELLYEAH, JOHNATHAN DAVIS, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, SHADOWS FALL, APOCALYPTICA, and IN THIS MOMENT. The second stage featured SEVENDUST, DEVILDRIVER, KINGDOM OF SORROW, SOILENT GREEN, WITCHCRAFT and GOATWHORE. On the third stage were the SWORD, DROWNING POOL, RIGOR MORTIS, WITHIN CHAOS, DESTRO, and battle of the bands winners DEBRIS and BLACK TOOTH.

Going out as a free event in 2007 was "a great learning exprience," Osbourne says. "Everything you do should be a learning experience, unless you're such an ego maniac you think everything you do is right, and we're not. I'm glad that we did it, the fans went away happy, but my God, it was probably one of the toughest things we've ever done. Who would think it was so tough to give something away free?"

Osbourne says plans are for Ozzfest to return to Dallas again next summer, likely as a two-day festival, and other cities are also being considered.

"Ozzfest ain't going anywhere," she says. "We do try and shake things up and experiment, we're not the old donkey that plods on doing the same shit."

Meanwhile, 2008 has been a great year for Ozzy, Osbourne adds. "Ozzy had an unbelievable last record (Black Rain), an unbelievable year touring, and he's in the studio right now recording," she says. "We just signed a new deal with Sony for three more albums and we ain't going nowhere."