Zakk Wylde has reflected on his final moments with Ozzy Osbourne following the metal icon’s death.
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The death of the heavy metal pioneer and iconic Black Sabbath frontman was announced last Tuesday (July 22). His family said in a statement that the 76-year-old music icon was “surrounded by love” at the time of his passing.
It came shortly after he took to the stage for the huge ‘Back To The Beginning’ gig in Birmingham on July 5 – marking his final show both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath. While a cause of death has not been revealed, Ozzy had notably been dealing with a myriad of health issues for numerous years, including being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2019.
A who’s who of hard rock music history played sets at ‘Back To The Beginning’, with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello serving as musical director and names on the bill including Guns N’ Roses, KoRn, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Alice In Chains, Gojira, Anthrax, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
Among those who performed at the show was Zakk Wylde – who apart from playing with Pantera – later joined Ozzy for the latter’s solo set. Wylde had been a longtime member of Ozzy’s solo band, dating back to 1987.
Speaking to Guitar World magazine, Wylde recounted of his final moments with Ozzy: “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.”
As for his reflections on Ozzy Osbourne as a person, Wylde said: “Oz was just the best. I have my father, who was a World War II veteran; and then Ozzy, who was almost like an older brother. There was almost a 20-year age gap between us. With our relationship, there was the fun drinking – but if I ever needed advice, I could talk to him.”
Wylde also called performing at the Back To The Beginning show “business as usual”, though everyone involved new that the priority was “making sure that Oz was okay.” “It was definitely pretty amazing. Seeing Oz onstage when Sabbath got done, that’s the last time I saw him,” Wylde added. “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.”
In other news, Pantera have rescheduled and cancelled a number of upcoming concerts to allow Zakk Wylde and other members of the band and their team time to mourn Osbourne’s death.
