Zakk Wylde recently opened up to Guitar World following the passing of Ozzy Osbourne and revealed his final interaction with the metal icon through text message in the process.
Within the interview, Wylde reveals that as so many had so much to say to Ozzy during the Back to the Beginning concert, he was cognizant of letting others have their time and not overwhelming Ozzy on such a big day.
Wylde recalled, “Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room and I just wanted to give him a break. I figured we’d see him later on – the next day or whatever. But no. The last text I got from Oz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you.’ He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’ That was it.”
According to Wylde, the last time he actually saw Ozzy was when they played together onstage at the Back to the Beginning concert on July 5.
He shared with Guitar World that the memories of that night are “ingrained in my head.”
“With ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home,’ when we got the acoustic out, I had to be like, ‘Keep the guitar away from the microphone so I can sing,’ because Oz’s voice was having trouble at certain notes,” says Wylde. “I was like, ‘I need to make sure I’m always there so I can double him.’ I was like three feet away from the microphone when I started playing the song. I was like, ‘I gotta get near the microphone,’ so I had to almost stop playing, lift the guitar up and put it over the mic.”
“It was like juggling balls or chainsaws while being on a skateboard! It was actually pretty funny – but it was business as usual. It’s supposed to be the most important show ever, but everything’s on the fly!”
He says of his inclusion in Ozzy’s final show, “I’m blessed and grateful, man. Anything other than that would be selfish. And on top of it, to go out with what’s the biggest-grossing charity event of all? That’s unbelievable. He helped a whole lot of people instead of making a profit. My God, what an incredible master. What an incredible life.”
“It was definitely pretty amazing. Seeing Oz onstage when Sabbath got done, that’s the last time I saw him,” he concludes.
