Sharon Osbourne confirmed the comeback for 2027. Here are details about the heavy metal cult festival.
After Ozzy Osbourne passed away on July 22, 2025, he left a huge void in the world of rock and heavy metal. During his career, he also founded Ozzfest with his wife Sharon Osbourne. This was a festival series that toured primarily through the USA and partly also through Canada and Europe. After the Black Sabbath frontman’s death, it was unclear whether the festival would ever take place again.
Now Sharon Osbourne has clarified this question and has news for all fans. Here is an overview of the information.
Ozzfest will return after a year-long hiatus
Now it’s official: Ozzfest will start again in 2027. Sharon Osbourne commented on this in a discussion at the MIDEM music industry conference in the French city of Cannes. The discussion was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, March 4, 2026. In it, the deceased’s wife was asked about a possible Ozzfest event in 2027 and found a clear answer that should please many fans: “Yes, absolutely. Yes, we will do it.”
In keeping with these statements, the event series’ official Instagram account also confirmed the comeback and posted a post that read: “Ozzfest will return.”
During the discussion in Cannes, the 73-year-old also shared an anecdote about the last Ozzfest, which was held in 2018: “The last Ozzfest was in 2018. It was just a month before Ozzy got sick at the Forum in LA. We weren’t planning on canceling it. We really wanted to do it, but Ozzy couldn’t. Ozzy and I talked about it, and he said, ‘Do you think Ozzfest would work without me?’ And I said, “Yeah, it’s a brand. It’ll work without you.” And he was like, “We should do it anyway.”
“Like a summer camp for kids”
Ozzy’s widow previously told Billboard that she was in talks with ticketing platform Live Nation in January 2026 about a possible comeback of the event. At the time, she said: “Ozzy cared deeply about this: giving young talent a stage in front of a big audience. We basically started the metal festivals in this country. It was copied, but never with the same spirit as ours, because we were a place for new talent. It was like a summer camp for children.”
Ozzfest since 1996
Ozzfest was launched in 1996. Back then, Sharon Osbourne came up with the idea because the Lollapalooza Festival didn’t allow her husband to perform. Since then, the rock and heavy metal festival has given young bands and artists from this genre a chance to show themselves. The touring festival was always headlined by Ozzy Osbourne solo or with Black Sabbath.
