Both hailed as some of one of the most influential rock bands in history,
Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath found themselves on tour in 2005,
but it wasn’t all peace and harmony as we’ll find in today’s video.
Established in 1996 Ozzfest was a travelling tour that consisted of the top metal acts at the time
along with Black Sabbath who would frequently headline the tour. The 2005 incarnation of the the
traveling circus was playing stadiums in America with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden co-headlining.
Also on the bill was Mudvayne and Rob Zombie. The tour ran from July 15 to August 20th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmBb8IjGJmA
During ozzfest that year iron maiden frontman bruce dickinson was pretty open about what was
bothering him slagging off ozzy and the corporate nature of the tour during live shows and in
the press. Ahead of the tour starting in the summer of 2005 Maiden finished a show in Sweden
after which Dickinson told Kerrang I'd like to go to America and say 'You're very good,
but you're not as loud as 56,000 fing vikings in a football stadium.'
In 2006 Dickinson gave his version of events of what led to the feud escalating recalling
“Ozzfest is a corporate rock event at which they sell the front 10-12 rows to corporate
seats and not to kids. Most of the bands pay a lot of money to be on the Ozzfest,
they get paid next to nothing. The whole way it's being portrayed as being some kind of altruistic
holiday for all the bands is absolute nonsense, it's complete bullshit. Most of the bands are
there because they paid to be there. That's the way it's run. We went out and we were like,
'Okay, why aren't there any people down the front?' Well, because it's restricted seating
and because they don't have tickets. 'What?!' That's f’ed, so we said so. I said so every night.
According to Ozzy’s manager and wife Sharon Osbourne, Dickinson would consistently complain
backstage saying and i quote: “We don’t need a teleprompter” and “we don’t need a reality
show to be legit”. Sharon took these as thinly veiled insults against her husband and family.
It all culminated with the tour’s final stop in Devore, California. Attendees reportedly told
news outlets that ahead of Iron Maiden taking the stage that night a voice chanting, "Ozzy,
Ozzy, Ozzy," could be heard over the venue's public address system. That same night Iron
Maiden’s power would be cut several times during their set and several songs into Iron
Maiden’s performance they would be pelted with eggs, ice, bottle caps and lighters.
Obviously angered, Bruce Dickinson told the audience members to break the arms of those
throwing objects at the band. During the band’s performance it was reported that
Dickinson slammed festival organizers for cutting the group’s power and slammed ozzy once again. The
Orange County register county claimed claimed that during band’s performance of The Trooper
that that typically for the song Dickinson would be waving a British flag. Towards the end of the
song a man wearing an american flag with the words don’t f with ozzy appeared on stage but
was removed by Iron Maiden’s entourage. It was initially reported in the press that one of the
bands on ozzfest that year Bury Your Dead were responsible for hurling objects at Iron Maiden.
It got so bad that the band received death threats from angry Maiden fans and they had to
issue a statement claiming they were not involved. Sharon would admit to trying to sabotage Maiden’s
performance including taking responsibility for cutting their power and hiring friends of
hers who turned out to be hospital staff she met while undergoing cancer treatment to throw eggs
on stage. Following Maiden’s set that night Sharon took to the stage to slam Iron Maiden’s behavior
on tour with some in the audience chanting Maiden’s name during her rant to show their
support. Sharon would claim her only issue was with Dickinson and not with the rest of the band
or their crew who she admitted were great. She would admit in an interview with Howard Stern on
his sirius xm show that maiden was paid $185,000 a night and Ozzy would claim he didn’t know what
Dickinson was saying night after night as he was busy getting ready for each night’s show.
Iron Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood would issue a statement that read "The scale, viciousness and
concentration of the throwing made it obvious that this was a premeditated and coordinated attack."
Sharon would put out an open letter to
Iron Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood after the tour concluded that read
"I know you would love to keep talking about this,
because this is the most press that Iron Maiden has had in the U.S. in 20 years,
but let's move on, shall we?" She signed the letter "The 'Real' Iron Maiden," and accused
Smallwood of fueling the tension "to try and sell record[s] and the [band's] upcoming shows."
"I did cut [the band's] sound," she wrote. "Ozzfest is our tour. Dickinson
doesn't have the manners to realize that when you are invited into someone's home,
are seated at their dinner table, are eating their food and drinking their wine,
you shouldn't talk disrespectfully about them. Otherwise, you just might get your ass handed
to you. Every action has a reaction. Was Dickinson so naive to think that I was
going to let him get away with talking sh-- about my family, night after night?
I don't think he realizes who he's dealing with." She would go on to claim that Dickinson never
discussed his concerns with Ozzy or herself. And would go on to say say We had to listen to
his bullsh-- for five straight weeks. He only had to suffer a couple of eggs on the head."
In the years that followed Ozzy weighed in on the feud saying he never said anything
negative about Iron Maiden or Dicksinon and that he supported his wife’s actions.
Speaking to The Quietus in 2010,
Ozzy would also claim and i quote “the bass player [Steve Harris] came round at the last gig and
said ‘I’m sorry about Bruce’, and I’m like, ‘What the f are you talking about?’ Nobody had told me,
you know. I said, “You know what? I don’t understand what the f you’re talking about here.”
“And so, I mean, Sharon got pissed off… it was nothing to do with me
In 2017 Dickinson would tell NME Magazine "It's a complete storm in a teacup. I grew up listening
to early Sabbath with Ozzy. Ozzy and Sabbath are icons so that’s that, end of story. The fact that
I don’t like reality TV shows, well I’m not gonna offer an olive branch to the Kardashians either."