Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has revealed what went down during his final encounter with the late great Ozzy Osbourne.
On Tuesday (July 22), the 'Prince of Darkness' passed away aged 76, close to 60 years since Iommi and Osbourne first played together alongside bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward in what would become one of the world's most influential bands.
Pioneers of the heavy metal genre, Black Sabbath put on a farewell gig in front of 45,000 fans at Birmingham's Villa Park this month - marketed as Back to the Beginning - with support from their musical disciples Metallica, Pantera, Mastodon, Guns N' Roses, and Anthrax, plus A-list compère Jason Momoa.
This epic event raised £140 million for Acorns Children's Hospice, Birmingham Children's Hospital, and Cure Parkinson's, and marked the last-ever time Iommi and Osbourne crossed paths.
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"I think he really just held out to do that show," Iommi told ITV News.
"I really feel – and 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.
"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's done it."
For Back to the Beginning's closing set, the reunited Sabbath shredded through four tracks ('War Pigs', 'N.I.B', 'Iron Man' and 'Paranoid'), with Osbourne sat on a throne due to his Parkinson's disease.
Post-performance, the singer paid Iommi a backstage visit before heading home.
"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 alright," said the 77-year-old.
"He enjoyed it. And he said, 'Oh, it went all right, didn't it?' I said, 'Yeah, it did.'"
Further into the interview, Iommi mentioned how he and the other two Black Sabbath members didn't want the main man to rehearse with them every day as it would've proved 'too much' for Osbourne.
"We didn't want him there every day at rehearsal, because it's too much. He just wouldn't be able to stand it," he revealed. "So they'd bring him in and he'd sit down and sing a few songs, and then we'd talk some rubbish about old times or whatever, have a laugh, and then he'd go. And that's sort of what we did, really."
Even though the rock legend, who was married to Sharon Osbourne for 43 years, displayed serious fragility in his later years, Iommi was still shocked to hear of his passing this week.
"When I heard, it couldn't sink in," he admitted. "I thought, 'It can't be.' I only had a text from him the day before. It just seemed unreal, surreal.
"And in the night, I started thinking about it: 'God, am I dreaming all this?' But as I said before, he's not looked well through the rehearsals."
Announcing his death, the Osbourne family wrote in a joint statement: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning.
"He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family’s privacy at this time."
Topics: Ozzy Osbourne, Music, Celebrity
Dan Seddon