David Lee Roth pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne during concert
During a show in California on July 23rd, Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth took some time out of his performance to memorialise the heavy metal icon, Ozzy Osbourne.
News of the ‘Prince of Darkness’s death came on July 22nd, 2025, after a long battle with health struggles, including being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. While Osbourne had been living a quiet life since, he did get to play one final show with Black Sabbath in Birmingham, known as Back to the Beginning, weeks prior to his death.
Before launching into the Van Halen classic ‘Atomic Punk’, Roth took time to reminisce on the first few shows that Van Halen had opened for Sabbath in the UK, saying, “I didn’t even know there were 22 cities in the United Kingdom. Ozzy Osbourne and I became very, very good friends on that tour. And the sad news is that he has departed.”
Alongside Roth being starstruck, the members of Sabbath were known to be in awe of what their opening act were doing. Outside of Eddie Van Halen’s signature tapping techniques, Tony Iommi remembered the band’s cheekiness for ripping them off but came to view the band as close friends up until Eddie’s passing in 2020.
Roth also assured Osbourne to look out for him when he makes it to the other side, saying, “I once asked a Buddhist monk, ‘Do you think there’s laughter in heaven?’ And he told me, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ So Ozzy Osbourne, save me a seat, and when I get to hell, we’ll have a drink, brother.”
The frontman also struck Osbourne’s classic pose of flashing the double peace signs, which he would do frequently during Roth’s first tour with them. However, Roth is far from the only Van Halen extended family member lined up to pay tribute to the ‘Prince of Darkness’.
Along with fellow legends like Elton John and Jimmy Page, former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar was also one of the musicians paying tribute to Sabbath during the Back to the Beginning, being a part of a supergroup of legends performing the Osbourne classic, ‘Flying High Again’ and also jamming on the Montrose classic, ‘Rock Candy’. There had also been news that Eddie’s son, Wolfie, was set to perform at the show as well, but had since pulled out due to a scheduling conflict.
This comes as Roth is completing his US tour, which is set to run up until September 14th, 2025.
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