The Legendary Ozzfest Got Its Start Thanks to Arizona

October 1996 is an important month for music & metal fans; more specifically the 25th & 26th. Without those 2 dates, the world would not have been introduced to what would become, one of the greatest creations by Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne: Ozzfest.

Today the music festival has toured all over the United States & the world. But in the beginning, there were only 2 cities that kicked off the Ozzfest movement. And those 2 cities that helped start it were Devore, California (near San Bernardino) & Phoenix, Arizona.

Who played the very first Ozzfest in 1996?

The very first date was the Arizona show; October 25th. Besides Ozzy Osbourne (duhhhh), the bill for the first Ozzfest had some heavy hitters during the 90s. While future Ozzfests would have 20 or 30 bands, the 1996 festival contained 11 bands.

Some of the big names include Slayer, Sepultura, Danzig, Fear Factory, Biohazard, Neurosis, Powerman 5000, Coal Chamber, Earth Crisis & Cellophane.

While most of the videos uploaded from that very first Ozzfest were from the California show, there does exist audio from the Arizona show, thanks to Fear Factory. The band would record various songs from their appearance at Ozzfest 1996.

You can find some of those tracks on certain versions of their Demanufacture album

Phoenix would appear many more times on the tour; 8 times between 1997-2007. Not surprisingly, it became the main city to host Ozzfest.

This wouldn't be the first time Arizona became the starting point for such an iconic music festival; Lollapalooza would get started in 1991 in Tempe, Arizona.

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