Black Sabbath say goodbye to farewell gig

Black Sabbath's supposed farewell gig at Ozzfest in Japan has been dropped amidst confusion about whether they were going to play their last gig there at all.

Instead of Sabbath, fans will now see Ozzy Osbourne and some different blokes. Which is pretty much the same thing.

Presumably there will be another farewell in a different place and time, but... nobody really seems to know what's going on. Probably as a tribute to Ozzy.

2009 festival cull: Ozzfest

Ozzfest? Cancelled? Why, yes, but not because of the financial situation, oh no. Ozzy's busy working on his new album.

He's lost the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter gig, too. Times must be hard.

Ozzfest decides it's not a charity

The 2009 return of Ozzfest is not, this time, going to be a free affair, as Sharon Osbourne has made clear:

Don't you know that there's a depression on. Are you mad? We're going back to what we originally were. We've given the real good fans a free show for one time, and now, it's back to business as usual."

It's not clear how far Ozzfest attendees this year were made to go to prove they were "real good fans" - presumably Sharon did some sort of scan of their minds before they were let in - but it's reassuring to know they don't care who turns up this time providing they pony up.

"Detroit will not be ready to rock until the catering crew tell it it's ready to rock"

David Draiman of Disturbed suggests that some people backstage at Ozzfest might be a little too in love with themselves:

. Ozzfest had kind of grown into this very "separated" thing for a while. It didn't start out that way, but it grew ... maybe there were too many egos running around, and I'm not even talking about the bands. And I'm not talking about Sharon (Osbourne), either. It always seemed to me that the people who thought they were rock stars were, like, the people running the tour — not the people who were actually playing. It was like, "Remember, you're working for us. You get paid because we fill seats." So if I ask you to let people come up and watch us, and if I (tell you that) we don't care, and if I let you know we want everyone to be there, then just let it happen and stop being a **** about it.

Perhaps it's a side-effect of standing near Sharon Osbourne. Maybe ego is contagious.

Death stalks the Prince of Darkness

Two deaths at the New Jersey Ozzfest date, both apparently caused by a combination of the heat and substance abuse:

Police are investigating the deaths of the pair, identified as Raymond Guarino, 26, of Forked River and Patrick Norris, 24, of Coram, N.Y.

After possibly taking drugs and alcohol, both passed out in separate incidents at the concert, went into cardiac arrest and later died. State police said the men were believed to have ingested cocaine, marijuana and alcohol before their deaths, and troopers who searched Guarino's vehicle found small amounts of both drugs.

Although both of the fatalities were adults, 59 of the 83 who were arrested were charged with underage drinking. Other charges included distribution of drugs, lewd behavior and providing alcohol to a minor.

So, it's clear what the Ozzy fans did with the cash they saved by not having to pay to get in, then.

Josh Homme doesn't much like Sharon Osbourne

Ozzfest wouldn't be Ozzfest without a disgruntled rock god falling out with Sharon Osbourne, and to mark the 2007 free version of the festival, Josh Homme is doing the falling:

"I won't be playing Ozzfest again - they treat the bands like shit.

"This year you get to play for free under the guise of, 'We're doing it for the fans!' But it's really for the people who fan Sharon and Ozzy with palm fronds at their house."

That's totally unfair. They've not just got one house, have they?

Sharon, of course, has responded with a dignified silence. Oh, alright, she hasn't:

"I hope he gets syphilis and dies. I hope his dick fuckin' falls off so his mother can eat it."

We can't imagine how ITV haven't brought her back for cosy teatime chat.

Ozzy goes free

Bloody hell, Sharon must be winning a fortune on that Gala Bingo website. This year's Ozzfest is going to be free, with all costs being met by tour sponsors.

It's quite a gesture, although we can't help wondering if the motivation is in part allowing Sharon to exercise more control over the lower orders. After all, when people are buying tickets with the hope of seeing, say, Iron Maiden, it's hard for Sharon to throw Iron Maiden off the tour if they fall out, and so she's reduced to humiliating herself with a childish stunt or two. After all, nobody wants to have to refund tickets, do they? But if the cost of the tickets has been picked up by Nike or Snickers or whoever... well, that shifts the balance of power.

And, in passing, Kelly Osbourne appears to have been the victim of a Freudian slip during the business news on the World Service this morning - ending a report on Windows Vista complaints, the anchor asked if "geek" was now an acceptable term. "Kelly Osbourne likes geeks..." volunteered the business reporter:

"Kelly Osbourne? Who's that?"
"Ozzy Osbourne's son..."