Yeah, think we all saw this coming. Ozzy Osbourne says his performance at the upcoming “final” Black Sabbath concert will be limited.
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Earlier this month (February 5), Black Sabbath announced their final show ever. It’s happening July 5th in Birmingham and the line-up is insane: Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Gojira and so many more!
And while Ozzy is expected to play with Sabbath, given his health condition, don’t expect a full show outta the Prince of Darkness.
Ozzy talked about his plan in the latest episode of his Ozzy Speaks show on SiriusXM: “I’m not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath but I am doing little bits and pieces with them. I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable.”
Ozzy added, “I am trying to get back on my feet. When you get up in the morning, you just jump out of bed. I have to balance myself, but I’m not dead. I’m still actively doing things.”
Osbourne’s last full show was back in 2018.
This updates comes after Ozzy revealed he now ‘can’t walk’ (as a result of Parkinson’s disease). However, his wife and manager Sharon has assured fans that his illness “doesn’t affect his voice”. She said, “Parkinson’s is a progressive disease. It’s not something you can stabilise. It affects different parts of the body and it’s affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it’s ever been.”
Sharon and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi talked to NME at Villa Park last week and said that Ozzy was doing “really great” and feeling “very emotional” about the final Sabbath show. “It’s what he wants,” Sharon said. “He wants to say thank you to everybody. He didn’t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.”
Sharon said the ‘Back To The Beginning’ show would be “just about celebrating the old music that still lives on”, rather than Black Sabbath releasing any new music. “You get to a stage in your career where whatever you do just doesn’t stand up to what you did before. To be able to rest on your laurels and say, ‘People still love that and it’s still selling and we can’t do better than what we’ve done’, that’s enough.”
Sharon also described the one-off date as “a celebration – of the genre and the pioneers who started it and passed it on to all these bands”. She said, “Usually this thing is done when you’re dead – so it’s nice that these guys can be alive to be appreciated!”
Let’s be honest – I would’ve been blown away to hear/see Ozzy perform the entire concert with Sabbath. You felt the same way, right?
