May 28, 2007

Ozzfest Not So Free After All: Organizers Offer VIP Ticket Plans

By Chris Harris (MTV.com)

It was announced months ago that tickets for this summer's Ozzfest would be free to fans, and that the longest-running heavy metal festival would subsist on corporate sponsorships and little else.

But obtaining those free tickets for one of the dates on this year's run -- which kicks off July 12 in Auburn, Washington, and continues through August 30 in West Palm Beach, Florida -- might just give some metal fans a migraine.

First, you have to send an e-mail requesting tickets, and then wait for a confirmation e-mail containing a link to the website of one of the tour's various sponsors. Next, you have to wait until June 12 before you can enter that code on some other website to redeem two tickets to whichever date you'd like to attend. It's a whole rigmarole that some fans -- or, more specifically, those willing to drop some serious scratch -- can avoid.

That's right, folks -- while this summer's Live Nation-sponsored Ozzfest will be free to most, some will fork over upward of $1,000 to get in. As in years past, Ozzfest's organizers will offer fans a number of VIP ticket packages for purchase, which will ensure them a seat for all the headbangin' action.

The festival's "Party Like a Rockstar" package -- which includes preferred pavilion seating, access to the second-stage VIP viewing platform behind the mixing boards, access to the general VIP area, a behind-the-scenes tour and a special host "to help you rock harder than you have ever rocked before" -- returns this summer, and will set you back $300. There's also the "I'm Part of the Show" package, which costs $666 and includes all the same perks, in addition to a seat on the Ozzfest stage during Osbourne's concert-closing set.

There's also the "Platinum" package, which will be available by auction in the not-so-distant future. The starting bid will be $1,000 and will be limited to only 10 guests per show. This offer includes everything the "I'm Part of the Show" package does, and then some. Fans who win the auction will also get a personal meeting with Osbourne and his band, along with a certificate signed by Sharon Osbourne. The proceeds of these tickets will go to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

The festival's 12th annual installment boasts a bill including Ozzy Osbourne, Lamb of God, Hatebreed, Static-X, Lordi, Behemoth, Nile and In This Moment, among others.