gigwise
by Daniel Melia on 23/08/2005
Iron Maiden have left the Ozzfest tour under a dark cloud after a feud broke out between front man Bruce Dickinson and the Osbournes.
Fractures in the relationship began to appear at the weekend when Iron Maiden’s set during the tours stop in San Bernadino, California was hampered with technical problems and songs cut short. The audience reacted by pelting the band with eggs, bottle caps and beer cups.
Dickinson then began berating the audience and suggesting the technical problems were intentional on the part of organisers. Rumours have spread that Sharon Osbourne and several of her entourage deliberately set out to sabotage the set and swithcehd off the PA up to six times.
After the set had finished Sharon Osbourne appeared on stage and told the crowd: “Look, I really love Iron Maiden but I have to tell you their lead singer Bruce Dickinson is a prick."
The official Ozzfest site has now released a statement further berating Dickinson, it says: “From day one, Bruce Dickinson started berating Ozzy and belittling the Ozzfest audience.”
“He stated he ‘didn’t need a reality show to give him credibility’; ‘we're not just some ******* reunion band’; and continuously complained about the sound system, saying that when he comes back to America he’ll have a better one.”
The statement did however thank the rest of Iron Maiden saying: “Might I say, the rest of the band are gentlemen and have a great professional attitude.”
Iron Maiden have hit back by releasing their own statement, it reads: “Iron Maiden wish to thank all the 45,000 Metal fans at Ozzfest in San Bernardino on Saturday night for sticking with us and giving us such a great response at the end of a difficult set.”
“It was obvious to all there that we had a 'series of unfortunate events' throughout! These made it difficult for us to keep our momentum but your incredible support certainly helped us get through it. We guess it all adds up to a pretty memorable gig though!!!”
The band are expected to make a further response to the events this afternoon.
