Ozzfest — the king of festivals — triumphantly returns this summer to celebrate its hard-earned 10th anniversary with the staggering line-up of BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN, ROB ZOMBIE, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, SHADOWS FALL and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. The summer's premier concert festival — which has propelled many of today’s rock bands to superstardom while paying close attention to its discerning fans — will roll out July 15 in Boston and visit 26 cities by the time it reaches West Palm Beach on September 4. The Hot Topic Second Stage will be headlined by ZOMBIE and feature a preview of rock's rising stars, including AS I LAY DYING, MASTODON, THE HAUNTED, IN FLAMES, ARCH ENEMY, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, BURY YOUR DEAD, SOILWORK, TRIVIUM, IT DIES TODAY, A DOZEN FURIES and more.

"I'm most proud of the success of Ozzfest," says founder Sharon Osbourne. "Everyone said it would never happen and 10 years later we are still in business." In fact, 125 bands, 238 shows and over 4 million fans later, the all-day extravaganza of music and deranged merriment is roaring louder than ever. History in the making, 2005 marks the first time metal legends BLACK SABBATH and IRON MAIDEN have toured together and also represents IRON MAIDEN's first Ozzfest appearance.

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson said, "This summer's MAIDEN touring is based on the recent 'Early Days' DVD and all the songs we do at Ozzfest will be from our first four albums — 'Iron Maiden', 'Killers', 'Number of the Beast' and 'Piece of Mind'. We will be bringing over our full European show, naturally including as special guest Eddie in various appropriate guises!! The stage sets, production and backdrops will recreate aspects of the shows on the tours around those albums — only bigger… much bigger!!! We don’t know if anyone has done anything like this before but we think it’s something the fans will really appreciate both in the choice of songs and in the production values."

Also debuting on the tour will be Texas-based band A DOZEN FURIES who landed their coveted Hot Topic Second Stage slot after winning Ozzy and Sharon's MTV "Battle For Ozzfest" reality series competition. Debuting last fall and lasting right up until the February launch of the fourth and final season of the Emmy-award winning "The Osbournes", "Battle For Ozzfest" is the ultimate battle of the bands, with contestants having survived 2004's grueling Ozzfest challenges.

This year, a limited number of fans who purchase OZZY OSBOURNE's first-ever 51-song, four-CD retrospective box set "Prince Of Darkness" (out March 22 of Epic Records) will be able to obtain one free Ozzfest ticket. The initial pressing of the box set will feature a precedent-setting promotion allowing fans to buy one Ozzfest general admission ticket and get one free.

Ozzfest, originally launched in 1996 as a limited two-city trek, has become a virtual breeding ground for up-and-coming bands. The renowned second stage has been instrumental in catapulting the careers of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, LINKIN PARK, LIMP BIZKIT, INCUBUS, SLIPKNOT, DISTURBED, GODSMACK and CHEVELLE. "Playing Ozzfest — twice — will always be among the highlights of our career," notes drummer Samuel Loeffler of CHEVELLE, who most recently appeared in the festival’s 2003 line-up. "Personally speaking, I was honored and somewhat nervous about sharing the stage with Ozzy, but finally felt comfortable after both he and Sharon patted me on the ass."

The heavy metal juggernaut has earned a hallowed position in the busiest tour season with a relentless commitment to its core fans and the consistency of quality they demand as their birthright. Just as the festival is committed to presenting the best music, it also provides an interactive, multi-sensory experience for concert-goers with a wide-range of attractions. The traveling show’s notorious "Village Of The Damned" — alive with tattoo artists, piercing booths, state-of-the-art video games, a wide range of vendors and much more — promises to be wickedly tempting.

JUDAS PRIEST — one of the biggest attractions on last year's tour — declared: "We were thrilled to be part of such a unique moment in heavy metal history that will be remembered forever!" Jonathan Davis — lead singer for KORN, who pounded the main stage in 2003 — added, 'Ozzy and Ozzfest are some of the cornerstones of metal. I loved playing in front of the Ozzfest crowd, the fans at those shows were f$*#ing amazing."

In addition to drawing vital hard rock acts, Ozzfest has always attracted a variety of select sponsors devoted to the tour's core fan base. Hot Topic — returning to host the second stage — will be the festival’s official soft line teen retailer. Throughout the day, Tama drums and Ibanez guitars will proudly showcase their arsenal in the Village. F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment) is on board for the fifth consecutive year as the official music retailer and will host the FYE autograph tent giving fans the opportunity to meet some of their favorite Ozzfest artists. Trojan brand condoms will also have presence in the Village as the official latex condom of Ozzfest. Jagermeister will once again bring the backyard BBQ party back to Ozzfest and prove their commitment to metal music with artist autograph signings and tons of free swag for attendees 21 and over.

Here are the Ozzfest tour dates:

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Originally posted by Nuclear Vampire:
OZZFEST 2005:
Aug. 23 - Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion

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Sabbath/Maiden/the Haunted...need I say more? g'bye

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Originally posted by Imran X:
The first 3 Maiden albums are amazing but I just cant stand Dickensons voice, Diano had so much more to him than the showman.

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Agreed! I still love them through Powerslave, but those first albums with Di'Anno are the best. They should have brought Di'Anno back when Dickinson left a while back... imagine how much cooler that would have been instead of what now is referred to as the dreaded 'Blaze-era'.

That said, I think Dickinson's last few solo albums were better than anything Maiden has done since '88.

Oh yeah, the actual topic, haha. Some good bands on Ozzfest this time, but I will NOT go to another of these massive festivals again. Did the Sabbath reunion in 1999, had a blast but don't feel the need to ever repeat the experience.

Can anybody explain why Rob Zombie always gets major slots on this tour?! He has got to be the least viable artist on the whole fest! And on the "Hot Topic" 2nd Stage? Depressing.

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Originally posted by Head Villain:
just seen on blabbermouth though, they are skipping the last 7 dates of Ozzfest.

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Originally posted by slugbutt:
me mad. me write nasty letter to them arseholes. me want a refund for the cd's/albums/cassettes/t-shirts/underoos/posters/temporary tattoos/tickets/lunchboxes etc..biotches!
This is the third time they passed us over and me want to cry!
Finally an Ozzfest with decent bands and a reason to go early, and what do we get? me really mad! Might still go and rush the stage, grap a mic and rap a Maiden tune to piss them off!

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Don't feel bad. As an alternative, you'll likely get: Alan Atkins, Dennis Stratton, Ron McGovney, and the "guy-who-played-drums-on-Rush's-first album" playing "greatest hits" same night Ozzfest could have been in your town. Probally at at place called the "Tick-Tock Inn" or "15 Minutes club."

missed Satyricon the other day too, didn't realise they were playing.

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Originally posted by slugbutt:
me mad.

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You and Luna can use this as an excuse to come visit me and we'll head up to Muckleshoot to see them! It'll be hot as fuck, so you'll both feel at home!!

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Originally posted by hypergrrl:
You and Luna can use this as an excuse to come visit me and we'll head up to Muckleshoot to see them! It'll be hot as fuck, so you'll both feel at home!!

...I'm serious...

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Aw, yes my younger and much wiser sister, you do have a point. However, this all depends on my cash situation. Maybe we will get our early x-mas presents in April. If so, we are there and I am off to Europe to chase women and see Maiden. Or is that chase maidens and see women?
June 25th in Paris, July 3rd in the Netherlands. And the Tour De Lance (France.)

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Originally posted by Mind Running Slow:
Don't feel bad. As an alternative, you'll likely get: Alan Atkins, Dennis Stratton, Ron McGovney, and the "guy-who-played-drums-on-Rush's-first album" playing "greatest hits" same night Ozzfest could have been in your town. Probally at at place called the "Tick-Tock Inn" or "15 Minutes club."

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LOL! Indeed! Don't forget Ripper on vocals!

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Actually, they should only be doing songs from the first two albums, rotating Dennis and Adrian, and of course leading the charge: Paul!

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Originally posted by Luna:
Where did you scour the news about Maiden skipping the last 7 days of Ozzfest? I didn't find mention of it at ozzfest.com and gave up trying to find the blabberfuckfaces story.

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Here's the story:

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IRON MAIDEN's DICKINSON Apologizes For Missing Last Seven OZZFEST Shows - Mar. 19, 2005

IRON MAIDEN's "Eddie Rips Up… Europe/North America - Summer 2005 Tour" has already had tremendous on-sale reactions in Europe, with tickets for their massive show in Gothenburg's Ullevi Stadim on July 9 recently selling out all 53,500 in just 2½ hours — the second fastest sell-out ever in Sweden’s biggest venue after BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN! Tickets for their show at Helsinki's Hartwell Arena on July 6 and 7 went the same way with 22,000 tickets selling out in a day.

Comments singer Bruce Dickinson, "We've always had great support there before but this is stepping up another level entirely. This whole tour will be one of the biggest we have ever done in terms in the number of fans we are playing to and if the reaction continues like this, every show will be a truly momentous occasion.

"Following the great reception received by our DVD 'The Early Days', which chronicled the MAIDEN story over the first four albums, we decided to give the fans a special treat on this tour by playing materiel almost exclusively from these albums, including a lot of songs that fans have been asking us to play for years along with fan favourites like 'Number of the Beast', 'Run to the Hills', 'Hallowed be thy Name', 'Wrathchild' and 'The Trooper'. And it will be a lot of fun for us playing stuff we haven't played for years!!

"In keeping with this, we will be bringing over for Ozzfest the full European show, naturally including as special guest Eddie in various appropriate guises!! The stage sets, production and backdrops will recreate aspects of the shows on the tours around those albums — 'Iron Maiden', 'Killers', 'Number of the Beast' and 'Piece of Mind'. Only bigger, much bigger!!! We don't know if anyone has done anything like this before but we think it's something the fans will really appreciate both in the choice of songs and in the production values.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to complete the full Ozzfest schedule as we were already confirmed to headline some major British festivals in that period, so apologies to fans in Texas and the Southeast. Having said that we are very much looking forward to the dates we are doing, especially with such a great bill. We're sure it will be a fantastic day out for the fans."

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