Given the well-documented mobility challenges he’s suffered since injuring himself in a 2019 fall, plus the advancing symptoms of his struggles with Parkinson’s disease, it has now been confirmed that Ozzy Osbourne‘s final live sendoff will find him seated upon a throne.
The 76-year-old heavy metal icon was forced to retire from full-scale touring several years ago in light of his worsening health challenges, making only a handful of brief live appearances since with the aid of a brace holding him upright.
Last month sadly saw the Prince Of Darkness himself admit he “can’t walk” anymore without assistance. Still, for Osbourne the show must go on, and so, as part of a final live sendoff for both him and the pioneering heavy metal outfit he fronted, Black Sabbath, a gigantic metal festival dubbed ‘Back To The Beginning‘ will be staged at Villa Park on July 05th in Sabbath‘s stomping grounds of Birmingham, UK.
In addition to an abbreviated live performance from Osbourne celebrating his solo career, Black Sabbath‘s original lineup, including Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and returning drummer Bill Ward, will also be back onstage to put what is expected to be a final cap on their legendary career.
Thanks to past accidents and injuries suffered by the likes of Foo Fighters vocalist/guitarist Dave Grohl and Guns N’ Roses vocalist Axl Rose, many metal and hard rock fans are already no stranger to the idea of seeing a throne present onstage. However, it would appear that Osbourne‘s will have some advanced features for his final live hurrah.
In a recent interview with RIFFX, Osbourne‘s long-time bandmate in guitarist Zakk Wylde revealed some details of Osbourne‘s seating arrangement. In fact, he even went so far to speculate that if Osbourne enjoys himself enough at this upcoming show, the concert may not be the heavy metal icon’s final live outing after all:
“With Oz and his throne that just flies over the stadium or whatever, [where he] shoots out buckets of water and does everything like that. So if Oz has a great time and it’s just, like, ‘I wanna go out on the road again,’ it’s just, like, ‘Good. Let’s do it again.’”
Ozzy was just sitting at the chair and he was singing ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home,’ and it sounded great. So hopefully we’ll just do this, and then Oz will go, ‘Let’s just fire up the machine again and we’ll do another tour.’ Everybody’s gonna be playing Sabbath songs, it’s gonna be pretty mind-blowing.”
Whether or not this concert spells a definitive end for Osbourne‘s live activities, the billing for the sold out ‘Back To The Beginning‘ remains a wholly impressive assembly of metal and hard rock royalty. Scheduled performers include:
Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne
Metallica
Slayer
Pantera
Gojira
Halestorm
Alice In Chains
Lamb Of God
Anthrax
Mastodon
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello will also be conducting an all-star jam featuring the following participants:
Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)
David Draiman (Disturbed)
Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses)
Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit)
Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
Jake E. Lee (Red Dragon Cartel, ex-Ozzy Osbourne)
Jonathan Davis (Korn)
KK Downing (KK’s Priest, ex-Judas Priest)
Mike Bordin (Faith No More/Ozzy Osbourne)
Papa V Perpetua (Ghost)
Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, etc.)
Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen)
Slash (Guns N’ Roses)
II (Sleep Token)
Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)
Wolfgang Van Halen (Mammoth WVH, ex-Van Halen)
[via Billboard.com]
