Ozzfest ’97

1997 US Ozzfest Tour

Dates and research compiled by Joe Siegler & Robert Dwyer.
If you’d like to use any of this text for non-commercial purposes, please obtain permission first.
Commercial utilization of this work in whole or in part is prohibited!

If you have an update to one of the dates below, please help keep the list accurate by telling us!


Touring Personnel

  • Ozzy Osbourne – Vocals
  • Tony Iommi – Guitar
  • Geezer Butler – Bass
  • Mike Bordin – Drums
  • Shannon Larkin – Drums (Jul 1 only)
  • Bill Ward – Drums (Dec 4 & 5 only)
  • Geoff Nicholls – Keyboards

Typical Set List

  • War Pigs (complete with siren tape)
  • Into the Void
  • Sweat Leaf
  • Iron Man
  • Children of the Grave
  • Black Sabbath (complete with Rain SFX)
  • Fairies Wear Boots
  • Paranoid

Set List for Dec 4/5

  • Video Intro
  • War Pigs
  • Behind the Wall of Sleep
  • Fairies Wear Boots
  • NIB
  • Electric Funeral
  • Sweet Leaf
  • Spiral Architect
  • Orchid
  • Lord of this World
  • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ( first two verses only )
  • Snowblind
  • Into the Void
  • Dirty Women
  • Black Sabbath
  • Iron Man
  • Embryo
  • Children of the Grave
  • Paranoid

Ozzfest 97 Main Stage

  • Ozzy Osbourne Band
  • Black Sabbath
  • Marilyn Manson (selected dates)
  • Pantera
  • Type-O Negative
  • Fear Factory
  • Machinehead
  • Powerhead 5000

Ozzfest 97 Second Stage

  • Downset
  • Neurosis
  • Slo Burn
  • Drain STH
  • Coal Chamber
  • Vision of Disorder
NOTE: The tour advert here on the right used the same font for the Black Sabbath logo that was used for the 1989 Headless Cross album cover.
Mike Bordin had this to say about the 1997 dates and Bill Ward in January of 2004..

“I’ve been really, really into music since I was about eight years old, but when I first heard a BLACK SABBATH record, that was it – there was nothing else,” Bordin said. “The very next week, on April 6, 1974, I saw them on TV on the ‘California Jam’. It was the most compelling, the most exciting, the most physical thing that I had ever seen – it was a revelation. I remember Bill as this big, crazy, giant hairy dude with red tights and no shirt. By the middle of the first song, you couldn’t see him – it was just hair and flailing arms. “When you look at Bill’s style of playing, you have to look at it in the context of the giants around him. Geezer, Tony and Ozzy are like forces of nature, and to balance in between them and not be squished, you have to be a giant as well. “Bill’s playing is phenomenally individual and completely unique – nobody can play those songs like him. I was raised on BLACK SABBATH music and it was hugely important to me even before I started playing drums. “Bill Ward is a prince of a human being and I feel honored to have had a chance to play in BLACK SABBATH with Ozzy, Tony and Geezer. It was my tribute to the man that wasn’t onstage, but should have been.”

Date Location Venue Other Bands / Openers Notes
May 24 1997 First gig on Ozzfest ’97 Tour
May 24 1997 Bristow, VA Nissan Pavillion at Stone Ridge Billed as Washington, DC
May 26 1997 West Palm Beach, FL Coral Sky Amphitheater
May 28 1997 Charlotte, NC Blockbuster Pavillion
May 31 1997 San Antonio, TX The Alamodome
Jun 01 1997 Dallas, TX Coca Cola Starplex Amphitheater [ Concert Reviews ]
Jun 03 1997 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center Billed as Cleveland, OH
Jun 04 1997 Noblesville, IN Deer Creek Amphitheater Billed as Indianapolis, IN
Jun 06 1997 Camden, NJ Tweeter Center Billed as Philadelphia, PA – 2nd Show after Jun 8 sold out
Jun 07 1997 Burgettstown, PA Post-Gazette Pavilion Billed as Pittsburgh, PA
Jun 08 1997 Camden, NJ Tweeter Center Billed as Philadelphia, PA
Jun 10 1997 Maryland Heights, MO Riverport Amphitheater Billed as St. Louis, MO
Jun 12 1997 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theater Billed as Detroit, MI
Jun 14 1997 Mansfield, MA Great Woods Center [ Concert Reviews ]
Jun 15 1997 East Rutheford, NJ Giants Stadium
Jun 17 1997 Columbus, OH Polaris Amphitheater Rescheduled to July 1
Jun 19 1997 Tinley Park, IL World Amphitheater Billed as Chicago, IL
Jun 21 1997 East Troy, WI Alpine Valley Music Theater Billed as Milwaukee, WI
Jun 22 1997 Minneapolis, MN Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome
Jun 24 1997 Denver, CO Mile High Stadium
Jun 26 1997 Phoenix, AZ Desert Sky Amphitheater
Jun 28 1997 Las Vegas, NV Sam Boyd Silverbowl / “Thomas & Mack Center”? Rescheduled to Jun 30
Jun 29 1997 San Bernardino, CA Blockbuster Pavillion
Jun 30 1997 Las Vegas, NV Sam Boyd Silverbowl Last gig with Mike Bordin
Jul 01 1997 Columbus, OH Polaris Amphitheater Just Ozzy Osbourne band, no Ozzfest bands Only gig with Shannon Larkin on Drums
Jul 01 1997 Last gig on Ozzfest portion of 1997 tour
Sep 22 1997 Cleveland, England Odeon Concert Club Unconfirmed?
Dec 04 1997 Birmingham, England Birmingham NEC Fear Factory Bill Ward on Drums
Pro-shot and recorded for Reunion
Dec 05 1997 Birmingham, England Birmingham NEC Fear Factory [ Concert Reviews ]
Bill Ward on Drums
Pro-shot and recorded for Reunion
Dec 05 1997 Last gig on the 1997 Tour

Black Sabbath: Home At Last
The Original Reunites!

On two nights in December of 1997, the original heavy metal band, the founders of all that is good music, the ORIGINAL BLACK SABBATH reunited for two full length shows. These two shows (on the 4th & 5th) were both video taped and recorded for the first official live album ever from the original Black Sabbath that was released in the fall of 1998 as “Reunion”.