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Aug. 26, 2005 If you're a heavy metal fan, you have undoubtedly heard by now what happened this past Saturday the 20th at the Ozzfest concert in Devore, California. Iron Maiden, co-headliners of this year's festival, were pelted with dozens of eggs during their final performance of the tour. In addition, the band had their power shut off six times during the final gig, their mascot "Eddie" was sabotaged, a flag-waving man wearing a shirt that read "Don't f*ck with Ozzy" jumped on stage during one of Iron Maiden's songs, prerecorded chants of "Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy," were played over the PA system in an attempt to drown out the crowd, and to top it all off, Sharon Osbourne herself came onto the stage at the end of the show to call Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden's singer, a "pr*ck." Why? Well, according to Sharon Osbourne herself, in a statement released on Monday: "from day one, Bruce Dickinson started berating Ozzy and belittling the Ozzfest audience. Out of 200-plus bands over the last 10 years, he has been the only person who hasn't had the Ozzfest spirit. He thought he was at a battle of the bands, always making other comments about other artists.” Mrs. Osbourne released a second, unapologetic statement late Thursday admitting that she had ordered the egging and other hijinks. Earlier, Rod Smallwood, manager of Iron Maiden, had this to say: "In 30 years in this business and after attending hundreds of gigs l have never seen anything anywhere near as disgusting and unprofessional as what went on that night... Assaulting musicians while performing by throwing bottle tops, lighters and eggs at them from just a few yards away is vile, dangerous, criminal and cowardly." Knowing Sharon Osbourne's keen business sense, one has to suspect this attack had a ulterior motivation—that motivation being screwing Iron Maiden of their pay. Throwing eggs, cutting off power, storming on stage, sabotaging Eddie... all designed to get the infamously hotheaded Bruce Dickinson to throw his mic on the ground and storm off stage, abandoning their set... ...thus breaching their contract. Iron Maiden was getting paid $186,000 per show, but if they didn't fulfill that duty, perhaps Sharon's legal eagles could try to wiggle free of their obligation to pay Iron Maiden. Hey, it's a theory. One problem, though. It didn't work. Iron Maiden played their complete set. They were ruffled, but by all accounts, they were on fire that night. Even guitarist Dave Murray, known for the perma-grin attached to his face was seen with a menacing scowl. So once the set was finally over, Sharon did the next-best thing. She cursed Bruce Dickinson, and unfortunately for her, she was soon overwhelmed with a chorus of boos and heckles. The ensuing furor over Saturday's events has erupted into the mother of all Internet flame wars, with the lines clearly drawn between pissed-off Iron Maiden fans and Sharon Osbourne supporters. The Iron Maiden supporters are the clear majority here, but the Sharon supporters aren't going down without a fight. The fighting has gotten so bad that members of the band Bury Your Dead (rumored to have been among the egg throwers—a charge they staunchly deny) have claimed to have received several death threats and are now threatening legal action against any websites that perpetuate the rumor. However, this caterwauling back and forth between the Iron Maiden and Sharon Osbourne fans means nothing to those of us who couldn't possibly care less about who offended whom. In the end it's a conflict between two people: Sharon Osbourne and Bruce Dickinson. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter what Dickinson did. He could've impregnated Kelly, tied Ozzy's shoes together, and finally outed Jack as a closet transvestite. It wouldn't have changed the fact that not one of the 45,000 fans who were shafted had anything to do with it. In the end, Sharon Osbourne took her frustrations out on the wrong party. She took it out on the fans, most of whom paid well over $100 apiece for the pleasure of having the headliner's show all but ruined. Sharon and her cohorts should all be ashamed of themselves. They forgot why they were there in the first place. For the fans. ------------ About the author: Matt Dinniman currently resides in Tucson, Arizona with his wife and family. He has had many occupations throughout his life. He has worked as a pizza delivery driver, a security guard, an EMT, a private investigator, an editor, a telephone psychic, and an obituary writer--and that's just the beginning. His books include The Shivered Sky, and the just-released Trailer Park Fairy Tales. Email: matt@mattdinniman.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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