The lineup of artists who will participate in the Ozzfest all-star tribute to late Pantera and Damageplan guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott has been announced. Abbott's brother and bandmate Vinnie Paul will play drums and serve as musical director, with Kirk Hammett from Metallica, Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez from Alice In Chains, Chad Gray from Mudvayne and Hellyeah, Kerry King from Slayer, Scott Ian and Charlie Benante from Anthrax, Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed and King Diamond all confirmed to appear. The musicians will all congregate onstage after Hellyeah's set to pay tribute to Abbott with a set featuring numerous Pantera classics.
Abbott was shot dead by a crazed gunman on December 8th, 2004 while performing at a Columbus, Ohio nightclub with Damageplan.
Vinnie Paul told us two years after his brother's death that the outpouring of sympathy from fans all over the world had not slowed down: "Those tributes for Dime still go on all over the place, you know. I've gotten so many letters from people and run into people from Finland, Germany, Japan, wherever that just...the grief struck millions and millions of people. He touched that many people, you know, and it was a very, very sad day for music and for fans of music."
The tribute was organized by Abbott's longtime partner, Rita Haney, in conjunction with Ozzfest co-creator Sharon Osbourne and her team.
This year's one-day-only Ozzfest is set for August 9th at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, with Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica co-headlining. The rest of the lineup includes Hellyeah, Serj Tankian, Korn's Jonathan Davis, Apocalyptica, Sevendust and others.
Sharon Osbourne told a Philly area radio station on Tuesday that she is planning for Ozzfest to be back in it’s original form as a full-blown tour next Summer. You can listen to the interview here. THANK GOD!!!!
In other news, Ozzy Osbourne told the Calgary Herald why he and his family had agreed to star in a new variety series this fall for Fox after Ozzy swore off TV following their MTV reality series, The Osbournes. Ozzy explained, "My wife loves TV and I love my wife, you know. She's great. We stand by each other and she wants to do it, so I'll do the show...I'm excited to do the TV show but I never think it's going to be a big success. That's the way I am with everything I do though."
Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash turned 43 years old on Wednesday (July 23rd) and kicked off a two-night celebration at the Mirage resort in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, according to TheVegasEye.com. The former Guns N' Roses axeman was scheduled to perform with surprise guests at the Bare pool lounge, with guest DJ Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction fame spinning records beforehand. The party moves on Thursday night (July 24th) to the Jet nightclub, with Slash performing acoustically and will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas in the DJ booth.
Admission to Jet is $30 and the festivities kick off at 10:30 p.m. PT.
Reaching the age of 43, as well as having a wife and family, might not have been a realistic goal for Slash during his days with Guns N' Roses. The guitarist had a longtime heroin addiction and admitted that he lived on the edge for many years: "I was always very aware of what I was doing. I was very aware of how dangerous it was, I was very aware of the risks that I was taking and all that kind of stuff, and I just didn't care. And then after an episode where I ended up having to be resuscitated and all that kind of stuff, I still didn't really care. I just felt like I was invincible or something like that. I was aware of my own mortality, but I wasn't fazed to the extent that I probably should have been."
Velvet Revolver is said to be working on new material for its third album and auditioning singers to replace Scott Weiland, who was dismissed in April.
Breaking Benjamin will not issue its fourth studio album on October 28th, despite some online reports listing that as the release date. The band has reportedly been at work on the project for several months, but a representative for Hollywood Records denied that the disc would arrive in October. The Pennsylvania-based act's next effort will follow up 2006's Phobia, which has sold more than 900,000 copies and yielded the singles "The Diary of Jane" and "Breath." The band last hit the road with Seether and Three Days Grace earlier this year, although its touring in 2007 was hampered by illness on the part of frontman Ben Burnley a couple of times.
There's no word on a title for the next Breaking Benjamin CD.