Ozzfest Will Return in 2027 as Traveling Festival After Nine-Year Break

Sharon Osbourne announced Ozzfest's comeback during her appearance on Feb. 6 at MIDEM 2026 in Cannes, France. She revealed plans to revive the metal event as a touring show, with Live Nation handling production.

"Yes, absolutely. Yeah, we're gonna do it," said Sharon Osbourne at MIDEM. "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."

The 2027 version won't stick to one type of music like before. Sharon Osbourne told Billboard magazine in January that she wants to switch things up. "I'd like to mix up the genres," she revealed.

The choice to bring it back came from talks with her late husband. "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,'" she said.

Sharon Osbourne told Billboard the event existed to support rising acts. "It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people," she explained. "We really started metal festivals in this country."

The series kicked off 30 years ago. It was the first national music event of its kind for hard rock. Past lineups gave System Of A Down and Slipknot their start. The last Ozzfest happened on Dec. 31, 2018, at The Forum in Los Angeles. 

Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Jonathan Davis from Korn, and Body Count played the 2018 bill. Zakk Sabbath, the Black Sabbath tribute band fronted by Zakk Wylde, performed on a second stage outside.

The festival became a single show in Dallas in 2008, skipped 2009, and hit just six cities in 2010. In 2017, it joined with Slipknot's Knotfest for a two-day run that pulled over 17,000 people.