When Black Sabbath took the stage in Birmingham for what would unknowingly become their last-ever performance together, there was a quiet gravity to the moment — one that Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and the returning Bill Ward all seemed to feel. For Ozzy Osbourne, it was a farewell, not just to the band, but to the world.
Tony Iommi, speaking to ITV News, opened up about the passing of his lifelong friend and bandmate earlier this week. “Yeah, it was a shock for us [to find out that Ozzy had died],” he said (via Blabbermouth). “I mean, when I heard yesterday, it couldn’t sink in. I thought, ‘It can’t be.’ I only had a text from him the day before. It just seemed unreal, surreal. And it really didn’t sink in. And in the night I started thinking about it: ‘God, am I dreaming all this?’”
The weight of the moment was intensified by what the band had just shared: “But as I said before, he’s not looked well through the rehearsals. And I think he really just held out to do that show. I really feel, me and Geezer were talking about it last night, that we think he held out to do it, and just after that, he’s done it and said goodbye to the fans. And that was the end of it, really,” Iommi added.
For Ozzy, that Birmingham concert meant more than just closure, and Iommi agreed: “Oh, he’s built up for it for a while now. He’s been sort of training and trying to do what he can, so he could do this gig, so he could do it. And that’s really what he wanted to do. I think he must have had something in his head that said, ‘Well, this is gonna be it, the last thing I’m ever gonna do.’ Whether he thought he was gonna die or what, I don’t know. But he really wanted to do it, and he was determined to do it. And fair dues, he’d done it.”
Being in their hometown again, sharing a stage with the original lineup, stirred deep emotions.
“It was really moving, I think. We all felt like, ‘Wow.’ And again, it was almost like a dream. Before you know it, we’re off stage. And [we were thinking], ‘What happened?'” Iommi remembered.
Backstage, Ozzy came by in a wheelchair to say his farewells. It was a moment Iommi won’t forget: “He went to his dressing room and I went to mine and Geez went to his and so on. And then he came over. He came around before he was leaving on a wheelchair that brought him in to say goodbye and have a little chat for a bit. And he seemed all right. He enjoyed it. And he said, ‘Oh, it went all right, didn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it did.'”
But in hindsight, a final text message from Ozzy lingered in Iommi‘s mind, as it was laced with exhaustion: “When I had the text off him the day before yesterday, saying he’s tired and he’s really got no energy. And I thought, ‘Oh, dear.’ ‘Cause it’s a lot for him to do that under the problems he’s got.”
Despite those health struggles, Ozzy Osbourne was resolute in seeing Black Sabbath’s final act through. Rehearsals were limited and carefully managed to avoid exhausting Ozzy.
“And we could see it in rehearsal. We didn’t want him there every day at rehearsal, because it’s too much. He just wouldn’t be able to stand it. So they’d bring him in and he’d sit down and sing a few songs, and then we’d talk about some rubbish old times or whatever, have a laugh, and then he’d go. And that’s sort of what we did, really.”
But the show was ultimately about closure — for Ozzy, for the band, and for the fans. “The gig was for him [to say goodbye], really, and for us to say goodbye, ’cause also Sabbath saying goodbye; it was the end of the band, and we’ll never do that again. And to have Bill with us as well after all these years, after 20 years of not playing with Bill. I can’t believe it’s 20 years, to be honest.”
The reunion was also emotional and nostalgic behind the scenes.
“In fact, we talked about that when we were in the studio, when we were rehearsing. We sat down on the couch, and we were all talking about old times, really. ‘Cause you always remember that. You can’t remember what happened yesterday, but you could remember what happened all that time ago.”
The chemistry and banter that once defined Sabbath quickly resurfaced.
“And so that’s really what we were doing. We were talking about all the things that happened. ‘Remember that, when we did this?’ ‘Remember?’ And it was great. It was just bringing us all together again, as it was in the early days. And to have Bill there as well. And Bill [laughs] — I mean, Bill’s Bill. [Laughs] He never changed. We said, ‘Don’t take your shirt off, Bill, please.’ [Laughs]”
When asked if he thought Ozzy enjoyed that last performance, Iommi was honest. “I think he was moved and frustrated as well, ’cause he wanted to stand up. You could see he was trying to get up. But yeah, it meant everything to him. This is what we built up for, for that big ending where he could see all the people, and we could all see all the people, and close it in that way. But we didn’t expect to close it so quickly with Ozz; we didn’t expect him to go that quickly, really. Well, we didn’t expect him to go. So it’s been a shock.”
There’s comfort in the timing, though. “I’m really glad we did it, ’cause it was a final thing for everybody,” he added. “And I think if we hadn’t done it, people couldn’t have seen the band and Ozzy. It would’ve been a shame. But they’ve got a chance to see us all and see Ozzy for the last time in that situation.”
As for how Iommi will remember his friend, it’s not the rock god persona that stands out — it’s the humor, the authenticity. His words were filled with warmth and deep history.
“God, we go back so many years. I knew Ozzy before everybody, ’cause we went to the same school. He was always funny. Ozzy was Ozzy. There’s never gonna be another Ozzy. He’s the only one — [there was] one Ozzy and that’s it.”
He recalled how Osbourne often ignored their attempts to manage his spontaneity. “He says what he thinks. Many times we said to him, ‘Now, don’t get saying anything.’ And, of course, he does. But it was funny. It really was funny.”
And even during shows, Ozzy never stopped being the jester. “As much as we were serious about the music, we’d always have this thing, and Ozz would always come over to me and pull faces. Of course, the audience couldn’t see that, and he’d be pulling all these funny faces, and I’d just crack up. Then he’d go over to Geezer and do the same. He was just that sort of person. He was a showman.”
Looking back on his legacy, Iommi summed it up simply: “He had a special way, and that was it. There’s not another Ozzy. And his antics and everything — we never knew what he was gonna do in all the years we’ve known him. So it was all a bit of a thing, ‘I wonder what he’s gonna do now.'”
