Ozzfest Is Coming Back to America in 2027
The gates are reopening, the amps are coming back to life and one of heavy metal’s most important festivals is officially returning to the United States.
Ozzfest will make its stateside comeback in 2027, nearly a decade after its last American edition. The announcement follows previously revealed plans to relaunch the festival at Villa Park in Birmingham, England—the hometown of the late Ozzy Osbourne and the site of his historic final performance.
No American city, date or lineup has been announced yet, but Sharon Osbourne has made it clear that this will be more than a nostalgia trip.
The revived Ozzfest is expected to honor the festival’s original mission by putting established heavyweights alongside the next generation of rock and metal artists. Sharon has also suggested that the new version could stretch beyond Ozzfest’s traditional musical boundaries.
That willingness to take chances has always been part of the festival’s DNA.
From Rejection to a Heavy-Metal Institution
Ozzfest was born after Lollapalooza declined to give Ozzy a spot on its lineup. Sharon responded by helping build a festival around him, launching the inaugural Ozzfest in 1996 with shows in Phoenix and San Bernardino.
Ozzy headlined a bill that also featured Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard and Sepultura. The following year, Ozzfest expanded into a touring festival and quickly became one of the defining rock events of the late ’90s and 2000s.
The festival didn’t just book massive names—it helped create them.
Slipknot, System of a Down and Limp Bizkit were among the young bands given Ozzfest stages near the beginning of their careers. Over the years, the festival also featured Black Sabbath, Tool, Pantera, Metallica, Judas Priest, Korn, Linkin Park, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Motörhead and dozens more.
Ozzfest eventually expanded internationally, staging events in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Japan. Its most recent American edition was a New Year’s Eve show at the Forum in Inglewood, California, in 2018.
Sharon has previously explained that rising expenses and increasingly difficult negotiations with managers and agents made the touring festival financially unsustainable. She never completely closed the door on its return, however—and now the comeback is officially moving forward.
Carrying Ozzy’s Mission Into a New Generation
The 2027 revival will carry even more emotional weight following Ozzy’s death in July 2025.
Just weeks earlier, Ozzy had delivered his final performance at Birmingham’s Villa Park during the all-star Back to the Beginning event. The sold-out celebration reunited the original Black Sabbath lineup and featured tributes from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Gojira, Anthrax, Mastodon and other major artists.
More than five million people reportedly watched the event’s livestream, with proceeds benefiting Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Now Villa Park will help launch Ozzfest’s next chapter before the festival heads back across the Atlantic.
The biggest questions remain unanswered: Who will play? Where will the American edition land? Will Ozzfest become a touring festival again—or return as a limited number of destination events?
Those details are still coming. But after nearly a decade away, Ozzfest is alive again—and the Prince of Darkness will remain at the heart of it.