Ozzy Osbourne has confirmed he’ll perform from a throne — possibly even a flying one — at what’s being billed as Black Sabbath’s final-ever performance.
Set to take place July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, the Back to the Beginning show will see the Prince of Darkness reunite with his legendary bandmates for one last ride, albeit in a slightly more seated fashion.
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The 76-year-old singer, who has dealt with neck and spinal injuries as well as Parkinson’s disease, now occasionally uses a wheelchair, but he’s determined to make this moment count.
Ozzy’s longtime collaborator and guitarist Zakk Wylde teased that the frontman could be airborne during the event — quite literally.
“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,” Wylde said in a new interview with Riff X’s Metal XS. “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.’”
He added, “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,” he added.
Although Ozzy won’t be delivering a full set, the Back to the Beginning concert is shaping up to be a metal fan’s dream. The lineup features both Black Sabbath and Osbourne alongside other big names such as Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. Other high-profile artists, such as Pantera, Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Halestorm and recent Grammy Award-winners Gojira are also included.
“I’m not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath but I am doing little bits and pieces with them,” Osbourne recently explained on his SiriusXM show Ozzy Speaks.
“I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable. I am trying to get back on my feet… When you get up in the morning, you just jump out of bed. I have to balance myself, but I’m not dead. I’m still actively doing things.”
