Ozzy Osbourne Announces Monsters Of Rock Headlining Gig

OZZY OSBOURNE ANNOUNCES MONSTERS OF ROCK HEADLINING GIG:

April 15, 2008

Will there be an Ozzfest in 2008?

It’s a question thousands of metalheads have been asking themselves the last two-and-a-half months — ever since Warped Tour mastermind Kevin Lyman revealed that he’d be putting on his own metal shows this summer, the Rockstar Energy Mayhem festival, which will feature Disturbed, Slipknot, Mastodon, DragonForce, Machine Head, Suicide Silence and others.

So far, there’s been little in the way of actual information coming from the Ozzfest camp, which, in recent years, has revealed the traveling heavy-metal circus’ lineup and routing well before tax time.

On Tuesday morning (April 15), the question of whether Ozzfest would be returning for a 13th installment didn’t come any closer to being answered. If anything, Tuesday’s announcement from Ozzy Osbourne himself — that he’d be headlining a single, all-day gig in Canada, under the Monsters of Rock banner — only confused matters more.

Nonetheless, Ozzy will be anchoring the July 26 event, slated for Calgary, Alberta’s McMahon Stadium, along with Judas Priest, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, Hatebreed, Shadows Fall, Priestess, the Cavalera Conspiracy, Voivod, Testament, 3 Inches of Blood and Zimmers Hole. The lineup is largely made up of Canadian bands, and reports suggest that the Dillinger Escape Plan will also be added to the bill. Tickets for the Monsters of Rock concert go on sale Friday.

So what does all this mean for Ozzfest? While none of the sources MTV News contacted could say for sure, one rumor at press time suggested that instead of being a traveling festival, Ozzfest will be scaled back to a two-day event in Dallas sometime in July. One source said that an Ozzfest announcement is expected to be made next week.

While not confirmed, rumor has it that Metallica will be playing this summer’s Ozzfest, along with Osbourne and his backing band. Several others have been rumored for the gig, including Korn (perhaps reunited with drummer David Silveria and guitarist Brian “Head” Welch), Alice in Chains, Filter, Tankian, Bullet for My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Dimmu Borgir and the Cavalera Conspiracy.

Courtesy of www.vh1.com