Sharon Osbourne has been sharing touching tributes to Ozzy Osbourne since the music industry icon passed away. Now, she’s keeping his spirit alive by bringing back Ozzfest.
“Ozzy Osbourne‘s memory has been kept alive with a series of projects since the heavy metal icon’s death at 76 last July,” according to Billboard. “But if manager and widow Sharon Osbourne has her way — and she almost always does — the spirit of Ozz will rise again next year with the long-awaited return of Ozzfest.”
Sharon Osbourne Says Ozzfest is ‘Absolutely’ Coming Back
“Yes, absolutely. Yeah, we’re gonna do it,” Sharon said while talking to producer/manager Andy Copping about Ozzfest during the MIDEM 2026 conference at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, per Billboard.
“Well, the last one we did was 2018. It was just a month before Ozzy got sick, and that was at the Forum in L.A. And there was no plans to stop it,” Sharon said of the hard rock festival that was held (almost every year) between 1996 and 2018. “We were still gonna do it, but Ozzy couldn’t. And Ozzy and I would talk about it, and he’d say, ‘Do you think Ozzfest would work without me?’ And I’m, like, ‘Yeah, it’s a brand. It will work without you.’ And he said, ‘We should do it.’”
Sharon also told Billboard in January, “I’ve been talking to Live Nation about bringing [Ozzfest] back recently. It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people. We really started metal festivals in this country. It was [replicated but] never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”
Ozzfest Boasted Epic Hard Rock Bands
During Ozzfest’s original run, it not only featured performances by Ozzy and Black Sabbath, it also “hosted everyone from Slayer, Danzig and Biohazard in its first year to Pantera, Fear Factory, Foo Fighters, Soulfly, Tool, Megadeth, Limp Bizkit, Motorhead, System of a Down, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Primus, Godsmack, Slipknot, Incubus, P.O.D., Papa Roach, Mudvayne, Linkin Park, Bad Religion, Drowning Pool, Kittie, Otep and many more,” per Billboard.
In February, the Ozzfest Instagram account asked fans about their favorite memory from past festivals. One person responded in the comments, writing, “2006 Buffalo, NY! I crowd surfed for the first time during Ozzys set and I couldn’t believe how close I got to him!!! I almost cried. He’s been my idol since birth and I couldn’t belive how close I was to him, I was also 16 at the time 😂”
“Ozzfest 2003 was my first concert ever when I was 12 going in 13. Those memories with my dad, aunt, and brother are special to me. Ozzy was there from the beginning and made a place for weird kids like me. R.I.P. ✊️😔,” came from another music lover.
Someone else left a comment, saying, “Wow there are so many great @ozzfest shows and tours but I would say 2004 Tampa watching Sabbath from side stage standing next to Sharon and Halford. Ozzy ran over mid song and gave @sharonosbourne a kiss. EPIC ❤️ #ozzyforever 💜🖤💜”
