Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler recently penned an article for U.K.’s The Sunday Times in which he reflected on his final appearance with his longtime bandmate Ozzy Osbourne.
On July 5th, Butler reunited with fellow original Black Sabbath members Osbourne, drummer Bill Ward for the massive “Back To The Beginning” concert, which was billed as Sabbath’s final live performance as well as Ozzy’s last-ever show. Just over two weeks later, on July 22nd, Ozzy’s family announced that he passed away at the age of 76.
Regarding what it was like to rehearse with Ozzy for “Back To The Beginning”, Geezer wrote:
“I knew he wasn’t in good health, but I wasn’t prepared to see how frail he was. He was helped into the rehearsal room by two helpers and a nurse and was using a cane — being Ozzy, the cane was black and studded with gold and precious stones. He didn’t really say much beyond the usual greetings and when he sang, he sat in a chair. We ran through the songs but we could see it was exhausting him after six or seven songs. We had a bit of a chat, but he was really quiet compared with the Ozzy of old.”
Ozzy and the other Sabbath members performed four songs for more than 40,000 people at Villa Park in the band’s original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne.
