What Trivium Did in Protest of Iron Maiden Getting Egged at Ozzfest

When Iron Maiden got egged at Ozzfest 2005, Trivium were not one of the bands involved. In fact, not only did they decline but they started wearing Maiden T-shirts and covering “The Trooper” during their performances as a show of protest. That resulted in a bit of backlash, but the band felt confident in their defense.

Why Did Iron Maiden Get Egged?

Over the course of the 2005 Ozzfest, Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson voiced his displeasure about his unhappiness on the tour from the stage. That didn’t sit well with Ozzfest organizer Sharon Osbourne, who allegedly instigated the egging of Dickinson and the band during a performance where their power was cut off as well.

Osbourne recalled in a 2022 interview with Consequence, “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 fucking reunion band;’ and continuously complained about the sound system, saying that when he comes back to America, he’ll have a better one.”

She later added, “Might I say, the rest of the band are gentlemen and have a great professional attitude. The crew [is] absolutely great. But how sad it was, after 10 years [of Ozzfest], that this little man tried to ruin it for everyone.”

What Did Trivium Do When Asked to Egg Iron Maiden?

In an interview with Metal Hammer, Trivium frontman Matt Heafy recalled the incident and how the band got pulled into the conflict between the metal legends and the festival.

Within the discussion, Heafy reveals that the band actually had to pay $30,000 to take part in the festival. That included the costs of renting a bus and hiring a crew for the run, which was a significant sum of money for a band still on the rise.

He recalls, “I remember on the last Iron Maiden day the tour was going to continue but we were asked by some of the Ozzfest crew, ‘Hey do you want to egg Iron Maiden?’ It was like, ‘Why the hell would we do that?’”

The singer had been a fan of the band and had watched Iron Maiden live on occasion during that summer run on the festival.

READ MORE: Whatever Happened to the Acts from Ozzfest’s First Year?

Heafy says the band was not only put off by the idea, but decided to show Maiden some support after what was about to happen. During their sets, they began wearing Iron Maiden T-shirts and covered “The Trooper,” which caused some backlash from the Ozzfest crew for the remainder of their tour run.

“We got bullied by the Ozzfest crew; they’d drive their golf carts right up to our faces, shoot dirt at us,” Heafy remembers. “Paolo [Gregoletto, bass] almost got arrested at one of the shows. It was a strange time; we paid $30,000 to get bullied like we were in high school!”

The singer added that their defense of Iron Maiden also kept them out of return invites to the festival, only in recent years being given a conditional offer to return. “We were actually told recently if we apologized we’d be allowed to do the tour again someday,” said the singer.

Trivium did perform on Ozzfest Meets Knotfest in 2016, but were included on the Knotfest-billed portion of the music weekend.

Trivium Made an Impression on Maiden

Though they initially faced backlash on Ozzfest for their Iron Maiden support, the band may have benefitted from it in the long run. In a 2020 interview with Ultimate Guitar, Heafy recalled, “Maiden brought us on tour after that.”

“I don’t know if it’s because of that, but I know that they liked The Crusade. I think they liked the transition to The Crusade, they liked that kind of backing thing,” explained Heafy.

The singer says, “It was kind of like that era has dissipated, the bullying BS era. Now it’s just – you see little dumb beefs, but nothing serious. So I hope no young band has to go through what we went through, but it made us who we are too. It made us strong, that’s for sure, and it showed us who our real friends are.”