The following report is courtesy of Brad Kava from Mercurynews.com:

In a move that bucks the trend of skyrocketing concert ticket prices, Ozzfest promoter Sharon Osbourne announced Tuesday that admission to the 25-city heavy metal tour - which stops at Shoreline Amphitheatre - will be free this summer.

Sponsors will pick up the tab for the tickets, bands will not be paid to perform and expenses will be covered from sales of food, drinks and merchandise.

It will be the first national tour ever to do so.

"We needed to change something and we didn't want to change the format,'' Osbourne said by phone from the annual Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

"We were putting offers to all these bands we wanted to tour with and they were coming back to us with exorbitant prices that would have meant we had to put the ticket prices up, which I won't do. With Ozzy's audience being younger, they can't afford any higher prices.''

Gary Bongiovanni, analyst with Pollstar, the concert industry trade magazine, said: "I don't think this will become a new business model, but it is a great marketing tool for them.''

Bongiovanni said everyone at the industry gathering was shocked when the F-word that Ozzy Osbourne started spraying with paint over a festival banner became FREE, rather than an expletive, during a news conference.

Old-time bands such as the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Madonna have sold tickets for as much as $450 each.

"They want $300,000 plus to do an hour's work onstage,'' Sharon Osbourne said of some young bands. "I'm just not doing it. Last year nearly destroyed us, paying, paying, paying, and we just can't do it again.''

Fans were thrilled, but skeptical.

"There has to be a catch,'' said Bret Moiseff of San Jose, who attends the concert regularly. "They can't all be free. Just the lawn, right?''

Osbourne said there was no catch. Tickets would be paid for and distributed by sponsors, such as Jagermeister, which will present acts at the second stage, located in amphitheater parking lots.

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