Ozzfest Thread

[Malcolm]

Hard-rocking music fans headed to this year's Ozzfest will experience a special one-time only all-star tribute to fallen PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist and Texas native "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott as part of the Saturday, August 9 one-day stadium spectacular at Dallas' Pizza Hut Park.

The tribute to "Dimebag" Darrell will feature Abbott's brother, Vinnie Paul (acting as musical director and playing drums), along with an array of prominent hard rockers. This not-to-be-missed performance will salute the acclaimed guitarist whose December 2004 murder while performing onstage at a Columbus, Ohio club still has the hard rock/metal community reeling.

Artists already confirmed to honor "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott include:

Kerry King (SLAYER)
Jerry Cantrell (ALICE IN CHAINS)
Mike Inez (ALICE IN CHAINS)
King Diamond
Scott Ian (ANTHRAX)
Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX)
Kirk Hammett (METALLICA)
Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED, KINGDOM OF SORROW)
Chad Gray (MUDVAYNE, HELLYEAH)
Bob Zilla (DAMAGEPLAN, HELLYEAH)

These musicians will stand together onstage, following HELLYEAH's mainstage performance, to pay their respects to their fallen friend with a set including many PANTERA classics.

Dimebag's longtime partner Rita Haney ? who has worked tirelessly to keep his spirit alive ? organized the tribute along with the Ozzfest team. While this began as an Ozzfest idea, Rita aggressively pursued it and brought together the talent making this homage a reality.

"To have this event on the main stage at Ozzfest in Dallas is such a treat and an honor!" says Rita Haney. "When this tragedy originally happened, I saw the music community come together like I've never seen before. To have the name 'Dimebag' still, to this day, unite musicians to pay homage in such a respectful way, is very overwhelming! In Dime's vision, it's always been about a damn good time!"

"When we decided on Dallas as the site for this year's Ozzfest, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to 'Dimebag' Darrell since it was his hometown," said Ozzfest founder Sharon Osbourne. "Dimebag was a part of our Ozzfest family and everyone in the metal community misses him dearly."

[CheapJon]

no zakk?

[Malcolm]

The upcoming all-star tribute to fallen PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist and Texas native "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott as part of the Saturday, August 9 one-day stadium spectacular at Dallas' Pizza Hut Park will include an acoustic performance of the PINK FLOYD classic "Wish You Were Here" featuring Jerry Cantrell (ALICE IN CHAINS), Mike Inez (ALICE IN CHAINS), Scott Ian (ANTHRAX) and Pearl Aday (Ian's fianc?e and daughter of legendary crooner Meat Loaf). This will be the only acoustic song to be performed as part of the tribute, which will feature Abbott's brother, Vinnie Paul (acting as musical director and playing drums), along with an array of prominent hard rockers. This not-to-be-missed performance will salute the acclaimed guitarist whose December 2004 murder while performing onstage at a Columbus, Ohio club still has the hard rock/metal community reeling.

Cantrell, Ian and Aday previously performed PINK FLOYD's "Wish You Were Here" on May 17, 2007 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California as part of the Black Tooth Bash charity benefit show in honor of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. Video footage of that performance can be viewed below.

Artists confirmed to honor "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott at this year's Ozzfest include:

Kerry King (SLAYER)
Jerry Cantrell (ALICE IN CHAINS)
Mike Inez (ALICE IN CHAINS)
King Diamond
Scott Ian (ANTHRAX)
Kirk Hammett (METALLICA)
Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED, KINGDOM OF SORROW)
Chad Gray (MUDVAYNE, HELLYEAH)
Bob Zilla (DAMAGEPLAN, HELLYEAH)

These musicians will stand together onstage, following HELLYEAH's mainstage performance, to pay their respects to their fallen friend with a set including many PANTERA classics.

[Malcolm]

Sharon Osbourne told Metro of the Philadelphia rock radio station 94 WYSP in a recent interview that she would love to get AC/DC to play next year's Ozzfest. "AC/DC are my favorite band," she said. "I love them. I would love to see Ozzy and AC/DC play together."

[Gunner80]

Sharon Osbourne told Metro of the Philadelphia rock radio station 94 WYSP in a recent interview that she would love to get AC/DC to play next year's Ozzfest. "AC/DC are my favorite band," she said. "I love them. I would love to see Ozzy and AC/DC play together."

Fat chance!  AC/DC can sell out stadiums in the USA. They don't need a crap thing like Ozzfest.

[Malcolm]

Ray Waddell of Billboard.biz reports that Ozzfest 2008, with METALLICA and OZZY OSBOURNE as headliners, grossed nearly $3.5 million and drew close to 30,000 people to Dallas' Pizza Hut Park, according to producers Sharon Osbourne and AEG Live. Sponsored by Affliction Clothing, this year's Ozzfest marked the return of the 13-year-old music brand after a free run at amphitheaters last year.

Last weekend's one-off event did "fantastically well," Sharon Osbourne tells Billboard.biz. "The one thing is you want for the kids to go away and keep talking about what a great show it was, and that's what they're doing."

Osbourne says plans are for Ozzfest to return to Dallas again next summer, likely as a two-day festival, and other cities are also being considered.

"Ozzfest ain't going anywhere," she says. "We do try and shake things up and experiment, we're not the old donkey that plods on doing the same shit."