What's new

Iron Maiden egged at Ozzfest. Osbourne to blame (1 Viewer)

Kevin C Brown

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2000
Messages
5,723
They are both a bunch of babies. Both sides are to blame.

If BD wouldn't have "started it", there wouldn't have been any retaliation.
 

Todd Stout

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 13, 1999
Messages
1,044
This is turning out to be quite a soap opera:

http://www.ozzfest.com/news_2005.html


I almost went to OzzFest in San Bernardino pretty much to see Iron Maiden for the first time in 17 years. There were several other bands that I would have liked to see as well but after experienceing the first three OzzFests at that venue, I really don't like going there when the place is overcrowded like that.

I'll say that I am a fan of a lot of Ozzy's music but he just doesn't sound very good live. He has great enthusiasm and really does seem to love his fans but his voice was shot at all three OzzFests that I attended. I am a big fan of Iron Maiden and they put on one hell of a show the two times that I saw them back in the 80's.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share what was on the OzzFest.com site. The Ozzy camp seems to be throwing a lot of mud at the Maiden folks and perhaps vice versa. Can't they all just get along?

I am a bit curious as to why they keep touting this as the 10th anniversary of OzzFest. The first OzzFest was in October of 1996 which was if I am not mistaken, 9 years ago.

As was said before... Up the Irons!
 

Tim Hoover

Screenwriter
Joined
May 27, 2001
Messages
1,422
I'm pretty much with the consensus here...while Dickinson's behavior may have been bad, it was still completely unprofessional and juvenile to respond to it the way the Osbourne family did.
 

Todd Stout

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 13, 1999
Messages
1,044


Okay, I guess I am just being a bit nit picky about the wording. I do realize that this is the 10th OzzFest tour but to me, 10th anniversary implies 10 years ago.

The more I read about Sharon Osbourne's behavior that night the more I think she went way overboard. If I would have ended up going to OzzFest this year, Iron Maiden would have been one of the main reasons I would have been there. I would have been quite pissed off if I had paid good money only to have that sort of inturruption during the show. I don't care what Bruce Dickinson said about any of the Osbourne's, the fans didn't deserve to see that sort of crap on stage considering how the expensive tickets were this year.

Speaking of ticket prices, there were tickets available for the first two OzzFests for $9.67 (thanks to 96.7 KCAL FM). My seat only cost me $48 for OzzFest '97 and it was in a pretty decent location. I see that lawn tickets were about $43 this year. Son of a...
 

MickeS

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
5,058
If it had stopped att egg-throwing, it would actually have been really funny. It's a good and not too serious way of getting back at them if they got pissed off at Bruce, and it was the last show, so kind of a happening-thing.

But turning off the PA and interrupting in other ways the set only really hurt the audience, that's what really pisses me off. That, and Sharon's obvious lies, and twisting of the truth. She comes across as extremely childish, untrustworthy and petty.

I can see why a lot of people would be pissed off at Bruce's comments, but I agree with pretty much everything I've read that he's said. The big tours these days are overpriced corporate advertisements set to music, leading to audiences that for the most part don't give a shit about the music, because most of them are either there because they happen to have a lot of extra money and just went to hang out and be with friends and don't care what band is playin, or they got tickets through work or a give-away, and go just because it's something to do. The few fans that pay to go because it's a band they want to see are in the minority, and this doesn't make for a good experiences for the band OR the audience (IMO).

However, Maiden accepted to doing the tour partly because they wanted a different audience than the old farts (like me ;)) they're used to playing to now, and partly because it was a buttload of money in it for them. Although I agree with what Bruce has reportedly said, it's really hypocritical for him to keep doing it night in and night out and bitching about it and complaining about the audience, no matter how right he is. Put up, or shut up... IMO. Nobody in the audience wants to hear the well-paid perfomer complain about the audience...

The same goes for Sharon. If she was so pissed off at Maiden, why didn't she kick them off the tour? I'm sure she could have found a way to contractually do that. Oh wait, I guess they were bringing in money for her, so she put up with the perceived insults... so what if Bruce said he hated reality TV? I tried to watch the Osbournes, but it was just depressing. I haven't even been able to listen to Ozzy or Sabbath much the last few years because of that show. He feels like a joke. And this thing sure doesn't make me want to support the Osbourne family in any way again.
 

JonZ

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 28, 1998
Messages
7,799
"Bruce Dickinson every night would be saying 'Ozzy sucks,' 'Ozzfest blows,' 'Corporate America sucks,' 'America sucks,' and all this other crap. He was bagging on America and bagging on Ozz. Ozzy's the godfather of my son. It wasn't like Bruce said those things one night. This happened every night on the 'fest. If you got signed by George Steinbrenner to play for the Yankees and every day you say, 'Steinbrenner sucks,' 'Yankee Stadium blows,' 'I can't stand playing for this team — it sucks ass,' then why are you playing for the Yankees? Shut your fuckin' pie hole. All he had to do was go up there, play for an hour, whoop some ass and go home."

I agree with Zakk

Heres something my history teacher taught me that I remember to this day, something Ive always remembered and used in life(its prob also the only thing I ever learned in high school)

Treat others as they treat you,only twice as much.

"The bottom line is Bruce was being a wad! You act like a cunt, you get treated like a cunt!"

Amen.

Im not a fan of Sharon O at all,and maybe what happened with lead the rest of the band to get Bruce in line - his actions reflect on them.
 

Dave>h

Second Unit
Joined
May 1, 2004
Messages
424
JonZ, Right on brother! I agree with Zakk too.

Bruce had it coming.

I have been to the Fest five times and every other show, the act opening for Sabbath or Ozzy was cordial and polite. Even Judas Priest, who IMHO had ample reason to crow about themselves because they were AWESOME and relegated Sabbath to "encore entertainment" were very kind and respectful of Sabbath and their place in Metal and were complete professionals to the fans.

Even Pantera, who are pretty tough on Metalicca and the like, were saying nothing but nice things about Ozzy and the FEst.

Bruce Dickinson was disrespectful to both Ozzy and the fans and there is no excuse or reason for it. If I had an egg, I'd have thrown it at him too.

Dave
 

MickeS

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
5,058
"All he had to do was go up there, play for an hour, whoop some ass and go home."

That's what he did. He also stated his unpopular opinions. And like I said, if it had stopped att egg-throwing or backstage feuding, fine. But they took it too far, and decided to screw the audience over by really trying to ruin Maiden's show. Incredibly unprofessional.

I maintain that if they were so upset about Bruce's comments about Ozzy (that's what really got to them, it seems), they should have just fired the band or taken other actions.

At least Maiden played the tour, unlike Ozzy/Sabbath who cancelled a bunch of dates (which of course is par for the course for Ozzy). I wonder who treated their audience better in the end?

If Ozzy & Co has such thin skin that they can't take some sarcasm, they might as well go back to doing their reality shows. At least there they can edit the content and get everyone to suck up to them like they want.
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason


That may be so, but what Ozzfest did completely lacked class, and could have been potentially dangerous for Iron Maiden. I don't care what Bruce said, getting stuff thrown at you from the audience is not cool, particularly since when you are on stage, you can't really see the audience, or things comming at you. Sorry, but there is no excuse for what they did.

Jason
 

Dave>h

Second Unit
Joined
May 1, 2004
Messages
424
What Sharon did lacked class. No surprise there. This is the woman that shit in a box and sent it to Tony Iommi (or someone else who had pissed her off), she even wrapped it in a bow and everything.

She admits to being a bitch and going to far to protect her family. I agree that f**king with the PA system was unprofessional and hurt the fans and was a stupid thing to do and disrespectful of the fans who had paid good money to see Maiden but the egging, I have no problem with that. Bruce puts himself out there as a tough guy, he can take some eggs.

I will also say, that as far as I know, Ozzy never said one bad thing about Iron Maiden and neither did Sabbath. They went and played and did their show. And Ozzy, like the consummate professional that he is thanked the audience and appreciated the audience. The same cannot be said of Dickinson.

Dave
 

MickeS

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
5,058


I don't know what the audience was like, but I read an interview with Steve Harris and he and the rest of the band were very dissappointed in how Ozzfest was arranged. He said that when they play elsewhere they are used to having dedicated fans up front and that they feed off of their energy and that's what they like about playing and what makes the concerts good. But in the case of Ozzfest he said that the assigned seating made the experience rather miserable, since people up front often were there just because they had the right connections or enough money, and that they often showed no interest or excitment in the music at all. He pointed out that Bruce got more worked up about it than the other guys in the band, but that they all felt the same about it.

I think what it all boils down to is that Maiden expected a tour similar to the festivals they are used to in Europe, and they got something else, something they didn't like and it pissed them off. Still seems like they put on a good tour though, from what I've read.

I think the audience were more pleased than the band, and I don't think Sharon cared about the audience remarks, she only cared about Bruce's sarcastic comments about reality TV and Ozzy's use of a telepromter during concerts.

As for Ozzy himself, I doubt he even cares. :)
 

MarkMel

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Messages
2,020
I saw the Hartford show and Bruce was having PA/Microphone issues back at that show. Could they have been pulling the PA stunts from the beginning of the tour?
 

Aaron Silverman

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 22, 1999
Messages
11,411
Location
Florida
Real Name
Aaron Silverman


Is general admission (i.e., no assigned seating, AKA General Animal!) more common in Europe than in the US these days? Every time I've seen Maiden it's been in a relatively small venue with GA. The prevalence of incredibly expensive seats at bigger shows in the US these days is a real shame.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,855
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top