When Ozzy Osbourne and other heavy metal icons are involved, chaos often follows. However, if Ozzy is expected and he’s not involved, even more chaos tends to happen. Back in 1997, the Prince of Darkness was scheduled to appear at the festival quite literally named after him in Columbus, Ohio. Plenty of other bands made it to the bill, from Pantera to Type O Negative to Machine Head. But let’s be honest, a lot of people were there to see Ozzy.
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Unfortunately, the singer’s voice gave out shortly before the festival took off during a set in New Jersey. Allegedly, he had fallen ill and had to be taken to the hospital. He was unable to appear at Ozzfest, and the festival kicked off without him.
However, attendees were not given the memo until almost 10:00 pm that night. They were not told until well into the festival that Ozzy wouldn’t be there, and they didn’t react very well. In fact, the whole venue was trashed by a riot following the announcement that Ozzy wouldn’t be coming.
Ozzy Osbourne’s Fans Were Not Happy When He Didn’t Show up for Ozzfest in 1997
The infamous Ozzfest in question took place at Polaris Amphitheater in Columbus, Ohio. At one point in the fest, Phil Anselmo of Pantera took to the microphone to announce that Ozzy would not be appearing.
A number of other bands on the bill tried to quell the increasingly angry crowd by playing a number of tribute songs to honor Black Sabbath, from “Bark At The Moon” to “Mr. Crowley” to “Crazy Train”. Now-disgraced rocker Marilyn Manson took on the vocals. It wasn’t enough. The crowd was furious, likely already well-inebriated hours into the festival, and opted to take their anger out on Polaris Amphitheater.
They smashed windows and set fires. One attendee named Justin Roman, just a teenager at the time, told The Columbus Dispatch about his perspective of the show.
“When we noticed they had lit the fence on fire, my dad said we had to leave,” said Roman.
Ultimately, about 23 people were arrested. Quite a few people were injured. Ozzy tried to make it right by returning several weeks later to make up for the show. But the damage was already done, and those in attendance on that fateful day in 1997 likely still remember it well today.
Photo by Andrew Kent/Retna/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
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