Aston Villa, smiling politely: Smashing Pumpkins frontman calls for annual charity heavy metal festival at Villa Park
The frontman of the legendary alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins has backed Aston Villa to host an annual festival in honour of the late Ozzy Osbourne.
Villa supporter Osbourne, singer of the iconic heavy metal progenitors Black Sabbath, passed away last month after one last hurrah at Villa Park.
The tributes have been long and loud, and Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan believes Villa should honour Ozzy’s name every year.
“I almost feel like there should be an annual Ozzy concert where we come together and we just do a charitable event,” Corgan told KROQ.
I’m all over the idea of a heavy metal festival at Villa Park like a cheap and particularly tight-fitting suit. I would endorse it like you wouldn’t believe. Metal is one of the great loves of my life and acknowledging Villa’s connection with its origins is a no-brainer.
The scene is in tremendous health when it comes to new music but I doubt Corgan is talking about anything but the older titans of the scene.
We’re not going to get the United Kingdom’s flourishing bands at Villa Park any time soon (Conjurer excepted, albeit not as performers) but some big old chunky riffs booming out over the hallowed turf would be just fine by me.
I’ve spent more time than is sensible considering the actual implications of Corgan’s throwaway remark and one consideration is that a summer concert at Villa Park would have to be sufficiently different than Download and Bloodstock, which aren’t all that far away geographically or seasonally.
But a sprawling camping festival hosted over several days can co-exist in the market with an annual single-day, one-stage affair held entirely within the confines of Villa Park and you can believe me when I say I’d be more likely to attend the latter.
A well-timed nod to authentic Birmingham heritage
Various groups of people in Birmingham are advocating for the city to pay tribute to Osbourne after he passed away last month. There’s more backing for Ozzy Osbourne International Airport than you might think.
Corgan has hit upon a more fitting homage, in my opinion. A regular metal extravaganza at Villa Park would tie together music and football under Osbourne’s name and continue the incredible charitable legacy of his last great contribution to humanity.
July’s Back to the Beginning concert was a belated Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne homecoming. It wasn’t organised how I’d have organised it and it wasn’t booked how I’d have booked it, but damn, it looked like a lot of fun and a glorious end to a band who laid the foundations for everything I listen to almost without exception.
It felt, finally, as if Birmingham was ready to boast about being the home of heavy metal and own the wonder of every overseas band that rolls through and shouts their adulation for the city from the stage.
Birmingham isn’t great at celebrating itself. It’s not in our nature and it’s a reticence that has cost the city dear over the years. If you’re not a heavy metal fan, take it from me: Birmingham is the birthplace of the world’s biggest and most enduring subculture and is throatily admired as such by its adherents.
The catch
Call me fussy but if a festival was to take place at Villa Park on an annual basis I would want the club to take on the role of promoter and own the whole thing from soup to nuts.
Hosting a charity event wouldn’t be an opportunity to increase the club’s revenue directly but it could be made to work in Villa’s favour as the flagship festival of a whole new income stream.
Like it or not, we’re in the PSR era – for now. While the club can sell bits of itself off to scrape in under the closing garage door every June, the only way Villa can consistently and sustainably spend within the current regulatory framework is to make money.
Nobody wants Villa to be a live music promoter but having a department dedicated to that would give the club full control over the gigs that will become a fixture of summers at Villa Park and indeed The Warehouse, whether they sell the building itself or not.
If Villa are going to host a festival, they should have a revenue-making team within the business to book it along with other live events at B6.
Maybe that’s a bit much. It’s certainly unfortunate that we as football supporters are even in a position where thinking about these things matters.
Regardless, a charity heavy metal festival at Villa Park in Ozzy Osbourne’s memory every year just to do a good thing? You’d better believe I’m in. All aboard!
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