Early bird fans could win Ozzfest ticket upgrade

Ozzfest co-founder Sharon Osbourne told Billboard.com on Friday (July 6th) that about 3,000 tickets at each of the free festival's 24 stops this summer have been held back to provide upgraded seating, including reserved locations and seats positioned on the main stage itself. Osbourne explained, "On the day of the show you can get to different booths, enter a lottery and get upgraded. We'll be upgrading throughout the day, 3,000 people. That's a lot of people to upgrade." Osbourne added that the earlier one gets to the show, the better a chance one will have to win an upgrade.

Ozzfest kicks off on Thursday (July 12th) in the Seattle area. The show begins every day at noon, with doors opening at 10:30 a.m.

All the tickets for the entire tour were free, with fans obtaining them through the festival's sponsor web sites. Osbourne told Billboard that she was "really happy and also relieved" that the ticket distribution "went so smoothly."

Ozzy Osbourne will headline the entire tour this year, with Static-X, Lordi, Lamb Of God, Hatebreed, 3 Inches Of Blood, Mondo Generator, Circus Diablo and others also on the bill.

Sharon Osbourne also said that she and her husband are talking with the other members of Black Sabbath about working together again in 2008.

Ozzy was inducted into the new Birmingham Walk of Stars on Friday (July 6th), the first native of the British city to have a brass star installed in the sidewalk of Broad Street. Birmingham is often called "the birthplace of heavy metal." Black Sabbath and Judas Priest were both formed there, while Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and John Bonham were born in the area.