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Geezer Butler recalls the shock of seeing Ozzy’s condition at the final show
Last July 5, Black Sabbath played their final show at the Back to the Beginning festival, which took place at Villa Park in Birmingham, their hometown. Before they went on stage, Ozzy performed his final solo concert, and throughout the day many famous bands influenced by Sabbath took the stage to pay tribute by playing some of their songs. Everyone was impressed by Osbourne’s performance, given that he had been dealing with numerous health issues in recent years, including Parkinson’s disease. He passed away on July 22 at the age of 76, only a few days after saying goodbye to the fans.
Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler recalled in an interview with Gabbing With Girlfriends his shock upon seeing the condition Ozzy was in. They had spent the last few years apart because their wives were not getting along.
Geezer Butler recalls the shock of seeing Ozzy’s condition at the final show
"I suppose I was just wondering how everybody would do. I knew Ozzy wasn't in the best of health. I knew Bill hadn't been well for a while. Tony was up for it, and I was up for it as long as everybody else was. And I said 'yeah' straight away, 'I'll do it.' Especially as it was at Villa Park, [the home stadium of] my football team and one of the earliest places I ever went to, and I was a little child."
"When we get together, it's almost like we've just seen each other the week before, even though it's been like six or seven years or whatever. Of course, Tony was joking about Bill 'cause he kept saying he looked like Gollum. The only shocking bit was when Ozzy came in. I knew Ozzy was very ill, but I didn't realize how ill he was. We were rehearsing, the three of us. We started - me, Tony, and Bill - rehearsed for the first two days just to get all the music together, sort out which songs we were gonna do, and everything like that. And then on the third day, Ozzy came in and he was helped in by two helpers. And I was just shocked to see him like that."
He continued:
"And, of course, being Ozzy, he had to crack a few jokes and things. And they had like an armchair set aside so he could sit down to sing through the songs, 'cause he couldn't stand up. I think we rehearsed about six or seven songs and picked out four or five. We knew we could only do four or five 'cause of the time limit, and we picked out the four or five songs that sounded the best and which we were most comfortable with."
"And after that, we fell into the old Sabbath again. Ozzy could only do it once, could only rehearse, go through the songs one time, and then he'd leave and we'd sort of carry on. We had to get the solos really well together and stuff like that," Geezer Butler said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth).
The “Back to the Beginning” festival happened on July 5, 2025, at the Villa Park in Birmingham, Sabbath’s hometown. During that festival, many bands like Metallica, Slayer, Guns N’ Roses and supergroups formed by former members of Ozzy’s solo years, paid tribute to him and Sabbath playing some of their famous tracks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD3jeUq7sm0
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