NEED TO KNOW
Ozzy Osbourne was “determined” to play his final show weeks before his death, according to Black Sabbath guitarist and co-founder Tony Iommi.
A day after Osbourne’s family announced on Tuesday, July 22 that the legendary rocker died at 76, Osbourne’s longtime bandmate Iommi, 77, detailed the moments surrounding their final show together — when the pair joined forces with drummer Bill Ward and bassist Geezer Butler for the Black Sabbath farewell concert in Birmingham on July 5.
Dubbed Back to the Beginning, the performance featured Osbourne playing for his hometown and the birthplace of the band for one final go at it, as he sat on a throne surrounded by his bandmates. As Iommi told ITV News in an interview shared on Wednesday, the news of Osbourne’s death was “a shock for us” after their triumphant final gig.
“When I heard yesterday, it couldn’t sink in,” he said. “I thought, ‘It can’t be.’ I only had a text with him the day before. It just seemed unreal, surreal. And it really didn’t sink in. In the night, I started thinking about it: ‘God, am I dreaming all this?’ But as I said before, he’s not looked well through the rehearsals.”
“I think he really just held out to do that show,” Iommi added. “I really feel — me and Geezer were talking about it last night — that we think he held out to do it. And just after that, he’s done it and said goodbye to the fans. And that was the end of it, really.”
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In an effort to perform earlier this month, Osbourne went through “training,” and Iommi noted that playing the show was “really what he wanted to do.”
“He must’ve had something in his head that said, ‘Well, this is gonna be it. The last thing I’m ever gonna do.’ Whether he thought he was gonna die or what, I don’t know,” he told ITV. “But he really wanted to do it and he was determined to do it. And fair dues, he’d done it.”
During the show, Osbourne and his bandmates performed a string of their biggest hits, including “War Pigs” and “Iron Man,” and Osbourne played a separate solo set. After their final performance together, Iommi said they shared some words backstage.
“He came around after he was leaving on a wheelchair that brought him in to say goodbye and have a little chat for a bit,” Iommi said of Osbourne. “He seemed alright, he enjoyed it. And he said, ‘Oh, it went all right, didn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it did.’”
“But as I say, when I had the text off him the day before yesterday saying he’s tired and he’s really got no energy. Oh, dear. Because it’s a lot for him to do that under the problems he’s got,” he said. “And we could see it in rehearsal. We didn’t want him there every day at rehearsal, because it’s too much. He just wouldn’t be able to stand it.”
He added: “So they’d bring him in and he’d sit down and sing a few songs, and then we’d talk about some rubbish old times or whatever, have a laugh and then he’d go. And that’s sort of what we did, really.”
Iommi called the performance the “end of the band,” adding that it “meant everything” to Osbourne.
The guitarist previously shared his thoughts on the legacy of his longtime bandmate earlier this week, writing on Instagram that “there won’t ever be another like him.” Bandmates Butler, 76, and Ward, 77, also paid tribute on social media.
“Where will I find you now?” Ward wrote. “In the memories, our unspoken embraces, our missed phone calls, no, you’re forever in my heart.”
The Black Sabbath drummer then shared his “deepest condolences” with Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, and their family, as well as his “sincere regrets to all the fans.”
Osbourne’s family announced his death in a statement shared with PEOPLE on Tuesday, noting he was “with his family and surrounded by love.” He previously revealed in January 2020 that he was diagnosed in 2003 with Parkinson’s disease. The rocker is survived by his wife Sharon, 72, and their three kids Aimee, 41, Kelly, 40, and Jack, 39. He also shared kids Jessica and Louis, as well as her son Elliot, with his ex-wife Thelma Riley.
Yungblud, Elton John, Jason Momoa, Gene Simmons and more were among those to pay tribute to Osbourne following his death.
