Warped Vs. Ozzfest: Let The Beef-Flinging Begin

Is this what rock and roll infighting has come to–a war of the words between the organizers of touring summer festivals? Apparently, yes. (Man, between this and the WaMu news, today is a pretty wan day for rock and roll.) Here’s the first quote that runs in a Kansas City Star piece on the free edition of Ozzfest, which hits town next Monday:

“It allowed Ozzy Osbourne to get one more paycheck out of (Ozzfest), to be 100 percent honest,” said Kevin Lyman, organizer of the Warped tour that will be at Verizon Aug. 15. “Sharon’s a smart person, but basically that’s what it is. It’s a ploy, straight up. Ozzy’s getting paid to do that show. She was struggling to put (together a bill) because she keeps charging more and more and selling less and less tickets. The attendance of that tour has been dropping for many years, and she keeps having to spend more on the talent to get people to the shows.”

While Ozzfest organizers are claiming that every venue has “sold out” (not really sure how that happens when there’s nothing to sell), tickets to each Ozzfest show get released the morning of every show, just in case people have a last-minute urge to see Static-X.

Also of note: We’ve seen reports claiming that organizers are expecting about half of concertgoers to stay home, an estimate that was presumably revised upward after Gwar announced its war against the Eurovision-winning metal band Lordi.

Ozzy Osbourne’s free Ozzfest comes to town [Kansas City Star, via The Daily Swarm]