Last Saturday was a bittersweet moment in the heavy metal community. Ozzy Osbourne, aka The Prince of Darkness, performed live for the last time at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning concert event. Back to the Beginning was the last time the original four members of Black Sabbath—Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne—would ever play together. It was Ozzy’s last performance period.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Black Sabbath is generally considered to be the first heavy metal band; the heavy metal genre wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Sabbath. Unfortunately, I missed seeing it in person. My fiancé and I didn’t have the money for a trip overseas, and in any case, the idea of leaving the country right now makes us nervous about getting back, considering the current political climate in the US. But despite our bad luck, we were still able to find some footage of the event on YouTube.
I’m not going to lie, my initial impression was not great. Here was a frail old man desperately clinging to his glory days. His eyeliner was smeared, his gray roots showing through faded black dye (not that I can judge too much; it’s been such a long time since I dyed my own hair, you can barely tell it’s supposed to be black). His legs trembled as they wheeled him in his chair to the front of the stage. But that impression was fleeting.
Don’t get me wrong, Ozzy was not at his best. There is a reason he’s retiring from performing. There were several moments when he couldn’t hide his struggles. He missed a few notes, especially at the beginning of “War Pigs,” and he relied a little bit more on the audience singing back than he might have had he been in peak condition. I could tell he was tired by the time his set was finished and he joined the rest of Black Sabbath. But I don’t hold it against him. I imagine his old back injuries contributed pretty heavily to his missed notes. It’s hard enough to sing the way Ozzy does sitting down, and I’m sure the damage to his spine prevented him from assuming the necessary posture to get the breath support to belt the way he normally does. In any case, he got his second wind by the time “Iron Man” was finished.
As soon as the music started, my initial impression of Ozzy disappeared. Ozzy’s chair wasn’t just a wheelchair, it was a throne, fit for the Prince of Darkness himself. Bat wings spread from the back of the chair and skulls adorned the arms. Despite his apparent frailty, the chair itself was imposing, and he looked like he belonged in it. Ozzy’s glory days may be coming to an end, but if he’s going out, he’s going out with a bang. Despite those initial setbacks, he still exuded the same energy, and I could feel it even sitting on my couch. His performance of “Mr. Crowley” nearly had me in tears (why “Mr. Crowley” and not “Mama I’m Coming Home,” I’m not sure), and I couldn’t help but grin when he shouted, “All Aboard!” for “Crazy Train.” My fiancé and I couldn’t help but sway and headbang along with him and the rest of the audience, even from the comfort of our living room.
There were, of course, other performances besides Ozzy’s at Back to the Beginning. I haven’t been able to watch all of them yet, but Papa V Perpetua and his super group’s performance of “Bark at the Moon” and Jack Black’s video with Roman Morello and all those other extremely talented kids covering “Mr. Crowley” stood out to me. But let’s be real, this was Ozzy’s moment. Everyone was there to honor the legacy Ozzy left behind, and while I’m sad I had to miss out on his final performance, I’m grateful for everyone who went and shared their experienced
Playing With Demons 