The greatest rock tour of all time, according to Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne never had to think about what makes a good rock star; he simply always had it in him. The best part is that he always knew it, too. As he self-assessed in 1982, “It’s like there’s a wild man in everybody. All I am is a conductor of mayhem.”
Because of all the wild and destructive things Osbourne did, and his reputation as the Prince of Darkness, it was often easy to reduce him to just that. But he didn’t soar to the top for no reason, and, as most people in music can attest, he was also one of the most intelligent minds that ever lived.
One of the best people to speak on this more accurately is Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, who had a close working and personal relationship with the late singer stemming from the 1970s. And over the years, Paice learned that the notorious, bat-eating troublemaker image was, more often than not, just a front that distracted from what a genius he was.
In fact, Paice, like many who had the privilege of getting close to Osbourne, remembered him as someone who was constantly switched on and thinking about the next thing. He wasn’t just someone who sought to destroy whatever he could, or, as he once so provocatively put it, “a conductor of mayhem”.
That was his message – as was the ethos of hard rock and heavy metal in a general sense – but it wasn’t everything that he was as a person. Recalling such moments with The Telegraph, Paice talked about how Osbourne was a “much smarter bloke than people give him credit for”, and that his “maniac” persona had “nothing to do with the truth at all”.
He also recalled an idea Osbourne had one night while under the influence of alcohol, when he’d suggested a concert featuring Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, saying that the bands only needed to perform for 20 minutes, and that the money would be so good that they’d only need to do it once. It seemed like a great idea, but as we know, his dream was never realised.
Back then, though, Osbourne likely wouldn’t have even considered the kind of send-off he’d end up getting. In fact, when you think about it, his initial idea pales in comparison to what Back to the Beginning became, with more stalwarts of the rock and metal world paying homage to his life and legacy than he possibly could have ever imagined.
That said, the energy Osbourne was going for back then resembled that of the final farewell show, bringing people together to enjoy and celebrate good music. Yes, he’d thought about the financial aspect, and probably made a good joke about it, too. But this also crossed his mind with other projects, too, the businessman that he was, always thinking about how to benefit from the communities he creates – and not necessarily in a bad way.
That sense of unity is ultimately what made it feel like the moment it was. As he reflected on the final show, “We never meant to have a livestream; it wasn’t in our plan. I was just surprised how many people we were contacted by to do one, and so it seemed a great chance for people who didn’t have the opportunity to get a ticket to be able to see the show.”
