Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, Megadeth and more to play virtual Ozzfest 2022
Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, Megadeth and many more acts have been announced for Ozzfest 2022, which is taking place for the first time as a metaverse music festival.
The hard rock music festival founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne has today (October 7) announced its full artist line-up, which also includes Black Label Society, Skid Row, The Raven Age and Britoff.
Ozzfest is the first major IRL festival in music history to enter the metaverse. It will feature performances screened virtually by the aforementioned acts in the specially created Decentraland virtual world from this Thursday (November 10) until Sunday (November 13).
The festival will be housed in its own dedicated land parcel including two stages as part of the Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival and will be free for all to attend (no VR, ticket nor headset required).
Rapper Soulja Boy will also be making an appearance at the Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival in avatar form, as will DJ Eddy-Temple Morris.
Ozzfest will also include VIP viewing access and free wearable merchandise exclusively for Osbourne’s NFT CryptoBatz holders. The NFT holders will be able to “take a potion”, transform into a bat and fly to a private balcony to watch the shows from a much closer viewpoint. This is in addition to free, exclusive wearables.
According to a press release, the stage for Ozzfest in the metaverse “promises to be unconstrained by the boundaries of reality, set in a sprawling gothic castle with a giant Ozzfest logo emblazoned on the front, offering hard rock fans a totally unique one-of-a-kind experience”.
Osbourne said in a statement: “I’m thrilled to be bringing Ozzfest to the metaverse. This allows me and the other bands on the bill to reach our fans in a new innovative way.”
Fans can access Decentraland through their web browser on their computers (both Mac and PC are supported). Ensure your Operating System (OS) is up to date and head here.
Viewers can also pre-register for OzzFest and Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival here.
This week marks the first time that Ozzfest has been held since 2018.
Elsewhere, Ozzy’s wife and longtime manager Sharon opened up recently about his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, saying: “Suddenly, your life just stops – life as you knew it.”
“I just think of my husband who was very energetic, loved to go out for walks, did a two-hour show on stage every night, running around like a crazy man,” she said.
“When I look at my husband, my heart breaks for him. I’m sad for myself to see him that way, but what he goes through is worse. When I look at him and he doesn’t know, I’m, like, crying.”
Osbourne was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2003 but it wasn’t until 2020 that he announced the diagnosis publicly.
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Charlotte Krol
NME
