looks like this is the end of ozzfest as a touring festival. :( from blabbermouth.net...
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OZZFEST Returns As One-Day Stadium Festival With OZZY OSBOURNE And METALLICA - May 13, 2008
All eyes and ears will be on Dallas, Texas Saturday, August 9. Ozzfest — the original and iconic hard rock festival — returns in 2008 as a one-day stadium spectacular that teams Ozzfest founder and namesake OZZY OSBOURNE (in his only U.S. concert appearance this summer) with METALLICA (marking their Ozzfest debut).

Produced by Sharon Osbourne and AEG Live, the all-day festival at Pizza Hut Park in hard music-loving Dallas will feature three stages of non-stop talent (with many Ozzfest alumni) and reliably twisted Ozzfest side attractions.

Ozzfest 2008 - Saturday, August 9 at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, Texas:

Main Stage:

OZZY OSBOURNE
METALLICA
SERJ TANKIAN
HELLYEAH
JONATHAN DAVIS
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY
SHADOWS FALL
APOCALYPTICA
IN THIS MOMENT
All-Star Tribute To "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott

Second Stage:

SEVENDUST
DEVILDRIVER
KINGDOM OF SORROW
SOILENT GREEN
WITCHCRAFT
GOAT***

Texas (Third) Stage: *

THE SWORD
DROWNING POOL
RIGOR MORTIS

* Homage to the "many great metal bands that come from Texas," according to Sharon Osbourne

"Ozzy just finished an 11-month world tour so I think he deserves a summer off," Sharon says about this year's one-day Ozzfest. "We're going to be a stadium destination festival for now — we have gone past doing the sheds every summer. We've given everyone else the blueprint and we have to keep evolving Ozzfest. This is just the beginning; AEG Live and I have a lot of new ideas for Ozzfest."

This year’s dynamic line-up encompasses artists who've played Ozzfest before in different incarnations such as Serj Tankian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN); Jonathan Davis (KORN); HELLYEAH's Vinnie Paul (PANTERA) and Chad Gray (MUDVAYNE); KINGDOM OF SORROW's Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Kirk Windstein (DOWN); and Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, SEPULTURA) of CAVALERA CONSPIRACY. Other Ozzfest graduates include SHADOWS FALL, SEVENDUST, DEVILDRIVER, DROWNING POOL and IN THIS MOMENT.

"Ozzy has great relationships with all of the bands that have played Ozzfest," says Sharon. "We're the only real festival for harder edge bands and these artists have been very loyal to us — there is lots of love on this lineup."

Tickets for this year's Ozzfest will go on sale Saturday, May 31.

(Thanks: Poobobo)

Thanks for the article Red. Can't say I'm surprised really, at least for this year. Ozzy has just finished a huge tour, I think a full summer of Ozzfest would just be to much for him. Who knows what next year will bring.

I did think last year's freefest, might be a goodbye and thank you very much, tour.

I'm not happy to say the least. I'd rather him take the whole summer off and do an album or something at his studio in his house rather than do a stupid one day festival where no one outside of texas is gonna show up. with gas a 4 bucks a gallon? i don't know anyone who's gonna go. it comes out to something like nearly 300 bucks to fill up to drive out there and then nearly 300 to come back. that's 600 dollars in gas money alone. and then a ticket will be around 80-90 bucks.
i don't know who they are kidding, but this whole destination thing is utter CRAP.
i know lots of people who didn't see ozzy on his last tour for black rain because they'd rather see ozzfest (which gives more bands for the money). i guess they got screwed. I'm very disappointed.

Surely you can't ever please everyone, though? In the UK, you often have to travel to London because that's the only place some acts will perform, despite there being plenty of venues of comparable (or greater) size elsewhere around the country. Getting the train there and back, or flying, is pretty expensive. And you're generally looking at a hotel bill for the night on top, too. A gallon of petrol in the UK will cost you £5 / $10.

i think destination festivals are just fine if you live in europe where everything is close together. england is 130,000 squared kilometers whereas the united states is 9.8 million squared kilometers. i would have to travel 1,400 miles to get to dallas if i wanted to see this show. the distance between liverpool and london is only 212 miles! compare that to 1,400 in my case...
this just sucks. it really does. oh well, i got 7 good years out of it. i wish ozzy the best after following metallica of all bands...

Ozzfest won't be able to carry on forever, I think it's done really well to last as long as it has.

I thought the one day festivial, sounded like a great day out, if thats what floats your boat. I live in a small town, so to see anyone, it means traveling, a long way, and that can be very expensive!

It's relative though. If you have a one-off gig in London, then they're expecting people to travel from all around the country (regardless of the expense). But I don't think they're realistically expecting people to travel from all across America just for that one event.

yeah, doubtful, you're right.
i just looked up the "stadium" they're having it at. it only holds 20,000 people. :wacko:

Well that does seem ridiculous. Admittedly I don't know any of the bands on the list you posted, other than Metallica. But I would've thought that Metallica + Ozzy + the rest would've been enough to easily fill a venue 5 times that size. :blink:

well i looked up the place and that was what it would fill for a soccer match...so I'm guessing with a standing room area for the show it'll be a lot more. but even if it's 50,000...metallica or ozzy by themselves could easily pull that in a big place like dallas. :wacko: this whole thing is just puzzling really.

aww gutted that the tradition that is ozzfest is ending. :(

I don't know if it's ending, just this year it's going to be different. Ozzy has just finished a huge world Tour, so I doubt he would be able to Tout all Summer also. Who knows what next year will bring.

true! :) we will have to wait and see i guess.