Ok then. First a quote from my Ozzfest/Mt. View review in this forum a week ago (Incidentally, I'm on Maiden's side with all this):
"He (Bruce) did his corporate America rants, and in the middle of one someone in the front of the crowd threw fake dollars up into the air, quite a few. I think, seriously, that this was a plant by (probably) Sharron Osbourne as Bruce has been doing this rant a lot on this tour, and I'm thinking she's taken offense at it. Bruce seemed completely surprised by the whole thing, and told the person that they should take a hike since he knew they didn't pay for the good ticket they had. i.e. Sharron had taken a front row seat just to plant this guy to piss off Bruce. This is all imagination on my part, but I have a feeling I'm not too far off and we'll read about it in some blurb or another on Blabbermouth eventually."
And now, a story on Blabbermouth this a.m.:
IRON MAIDEN Pelted With Eggs During OZZFEST; SHARON OSBOURNE Calls BRUCE DICKINSON A 'Prick' - Aug. 21, 2005 BLABBERMOUTH.NET has received a number of e-mails regarding last night's (August 20) Ozzfest concert in Devore (near San Bernardino), California, which reportedly included an on-stage appearance following IRON MAIDEN's set by Sharon Osbourne during which she called MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson a "prick." The following report was submitted by David Priest, editor-in-chief of On Track Magazine:
"Last night's [August 20] headlining performance of IRON MAIDEN at Ozzfest in San Bernardino, CA rendered some interesting, if not disturbing, results. Although MAIDEN played one hell of a show, they were under attack from the moment they began their set. From the time they hit the stage, they suffered power loss on at least three occasions and they were continuously pelted with ice, bottle caps, and eggs, among other things. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson was even spit on by one attendee. He seemed to believe these occurrences were not by accident and insinuated that they had been planned from the beginning of the night [Download MP3 files of Bruce's on-stage rants at last night's Ozzfest: Bruce#1, Bruce#2]. He also encouraged the other audience members to break the arm of anyone that they saw throwing things their way. Upon concluding their performance, the emcee for the evening began to chant Ozzy, Ozzy while Bruce was still speaking. Bruce retaliated by chanting MAIDEN. After he left the stage, Sharon Osbourne took over the mic and informed the crowd that they absolutely loved IRON MAIDEN and their crew and stated that they were all wonderful but that their singer Bruce Dickinson was a prick and had disrespected Ozzfest since they began their stint with the touring summer festival [Download MP3 file of Sharon's anti-Bruce rant at this location]. This, of course, came as a shock to those of us in attendance and the there was ample confusion and speculation from audience members there after. As previously announced, last night's show marked the final performance of IRON MAIDEN on this year's Ozzfest. VELVET REVOLVER will be taking over their slot on the last remaining dates."
Here are a few more eyewitness accounts, as submitted by BLABBERMOUTH.NET readers:
-------------------------------------------------
"Tonight was the last show of IRON MAIDEN's leg of the Ozzfest. Unfortunately the rest of the tour will have that spot filled by VELVET REVOLVER. There has been some sniping and such going on during this tour between Ozzy's camp and Bruce Dickinson, but that had been kept for the most part away from the fans it appears. So, IRON MAIDEN is playing a 55-minute set (though they've played full shows on the nights SABBATH cancelled on this tour because Ozzy can't to back to back nights.)
"MAIDEN is about to come on and right before a voice on the PA starts chanting 'Ozzy, Ozzy.' MAIDEN comes on and starts getting pelted with eggs from one area of the pit. Some dude has three dozen eggs. Bruce calls this out quickly. Next, during 'The Trooper', where Bruce waves a large British flag, some big dude painted red walks out from backstage with an American flag and on his back painted 'Don't f(#$ with Ozzy).' Tackled, he appeared off stage again. Then after Bruce declared 'You'll never hear MAIDEN on U.S. radio, MTV and certainly never see them in a reality show,' he says they will play 60 minutes, not 55. So, during two of their most popular songs (note: they are only playing songs from the first four albums, so 40,000 metalheads and idiots are going nuts), their PA and power goes off. Unbelievable, they handled it fine as almost if they expected it. They then do an encore and Bruce says something about the 'We the People' and nobody is going to stop them, not eggs, a guy spitting on them (until Bruce had him tossed) or a PA hoax and they play two more songs. Then they finish and are bowing and saying goodnight and the Ozzy voice comes on to chant, Bruce tries to change it to MAIDEN chant and then says, 'Are you as sick of this BS 'cause we are.' And they walk off.
"THEN: Sharon [Osbourne] comes on stage and asks for everyones attention and half ass praises and thanks IRON MAIDEN but say the singer Bruce is a prick and has been slagging the tour. 40,000 are stunned and start to boo and throw stuff, but most were stunned by the surreal moment. SABBATH then came out and did a good set like last year's with a much improved, yet hoarse, Ozzy. They started doing medleys thought, not good. But the rest, eesh."
There's more at this link if you care to read.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=40691
Frankly, we'll be lucky if Maiden ever comes back.
"He (Bruce) did his corporate America rants, and in the middle of one someone in the front of the crowd threw fake dollars up into the air, quite a few. I think, seriously, that this was a plant by (probably) Sharron Osbourne as Bruce has been doing this rant a lot on this tour, and I'm thinking she's taken offense at it. Bruce seemed completely surprised by the whole thing, and told the person that they should take a hike since he knew they didn't pay for the good ticket they had. i.e. Sharron had taken a front row seat just to plant this guy to piss off Bruce. This is all imagination on my part, but I have a feeling I'm not too far off and we'll read about it in some blurb or another on Blabbermouth eventually."
And now, a story on Blabbermouth this a.m.:
IRON MAIDEN Pelted With Eggs During OZZFEST; SHARON OSBOURNE Calls BRUCE DICKINSON A 'Prick' - Aug. 21, 2005 BLABBERMOUTH.NET has received a number of e-mails regarding last night's (August 20) Ozzfest concert in Devore (near San Bernardino), California, which reportedly included an on-stage appearance following IRON MAIDEN's set by Sharon Osbourne during which she called MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson a "prick." The following report was submitted by David Priest, editor-in-chief of On Track Magazine:
"Last night's [August 20] headlining performance of IRON MAIDEN at Ozzfest in San Bernardino, CA rendered some interesting, if not disturbing, results. Although MAIDEN played one hell of a show, they were under attack from the moment they began their set. From the time they hit the stage, they suffered power loss on at least three occasions and they were continuously pelted with ice, bottle caps, and eggs, among other things. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson was even spit on by one attendee. He seemed to believe these occurrences were not by accident and insinuated that they had been planned from the beginning of the night [Download MP3 files of Bruce's on-stage rants at last night's Ozzfest: Bruce#1, Bruce#2]. He also encouraged the other audience members to break the arm of anyone that they saw throwing things their way. Upon concluding their performance, the emcee for the evening began to chant Ozzy, Ozzy while Bruce was still speaking. Bruce retaliated by chanting MAIDEN. After he left the stage, Sharon Osbourne took over the mic and informed the crowd that they absolutely loved IRON MAIDEN and their crew and stated that they were all wonderful but that their singer Bruce Dickinson was a prick and had disrespected Ozzfest since they began their stint with the touring summer festival [Download MP3 file of Sharon's anti-Bruce rant at this location]. This, of course, came as a shock to those of us in attendance and the there was ample confusion and speculation from audience members there after. As previously announced, last night's show marked the final performance of IRON MAIDEN on this year's Ozzfest. VELVET REVOLVER will be taking over their slot on the last remaining dates."
Here are a few more eyewitness accounts, as submitted by BLABBERMOUTH.NET readers:
-------------------------------------------------
"Tonight was the last show of IRON MAIDEN's leg of the Ozzfest. Unfortunately the rest of the tour will have that spot filled by VELVET REVOLVER. There has been some sniping and such going on during this tour between Ozzy's camp and Bruce Dickinson, but that had been kept for the most part away from the fans it appears. So, IRON MAIDEN is playing a 55-minute set (though they've played full shows on the nights SABBATH cancelled on this tour because Ozzy can't to back to back nights.)
"MAIDEN is about to come on and right before a voice on the PA starts chanting 'Ozzy, Ozzy.' MAIDEN comes on and starts getting pelted with eggs from one area of the pit. Some dude has three dozen eggs. Bruce calls this out quickly. Next, during 'The Trooper', where Bruce waves a large British flag, some big dude painted red walks out from backstage with an American flag and on his back painted 'Don't f(#$ with Ozzy).' Tackled, he appeared off stage again. Then after Bruce declared 'You'll never hear MAIDEN on U.S. radio, MTV and certainly never see them in a reality show,' he says they will play 60 minutes, not 55. So, during two of their most popular songs (note: they are only playing songs from the first four albums, so 40,000 metalheads and idiots are going nuts), their PA and power goes off. Unbelievable, they handled it fine as almost if they expected it. They then do an encore and Bruce says something about the 'We the People' and nobody is going to stop them, not eggs, a guy spitting on them (until Bruce had him tossed) or a PA hoax and they play two more songs. Then they finish and are bowing and saying goodnight and the Ozzy voice comes on to chant, Bruce tries to change it to MAIDEN chant and then says, 'Are you as sick of this BS 'cause we are.' And they walk off.
"THEN: Sharon [Osbourne] comes on stage and asks for everyones attention and half ass praises and thanks IRON MAIDEN but say the singer Bruce is a prick and has been slagging the tour. 40,000 are stunned and start to boo and throw stuff, but most were stunned by the surreal moment. SABBATH then came out and did a good set like last year's with a much improved, yet hoarse, Ozzy. They started doing medleys thought, not good. But the rest, eesh."
There's more at this link if you care to read.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=40691
Frankly, we'll be lucky if Maiden ever comes back.
