Ozzy Osbourne described his final performance as “the best drug I ever took”
In his upcoming book, Ozzy Osbourne described his final performance at Back to the Beginning this summer as “the best drug I ever took”.
Osbourne tragically died less than three weeks after taking to the stage for the final time at Villa Park, the home of his beloved Aston Villa, in Birmingham, in July. The rock community travelled from across the world to be there with him, whether as fellow performers like Metallica or Guns N’ Roses, or to just be in the crowd to witness history.
It was a perfect send-off which brought his career to a fairytale end, and also, to Osbourne’s delight, saw the original line-up of Black Sabbath reunite for the first time in 20 years.
Now, in an excerpt in The Times from his new book, Last Rites, set for release on October 7th, Osbourne explained how the show took three years of planning from him and his wife, Sharon.
Initially, Ozzy wasn’t convinced it was a good idea when Sharon first proposed it in 2022, writing, “I didn’t think there was much chance of me making it to 2025. I was also like, no one will wanna do this, and no one’s gonna watch.”
Osbourne also revealed he was due to move back to the UK last December, but his health struggles got worse, which prevented it from happening. He shared, “Instead my back went again. Then I got pneumonia, which is bad enough for a normal person, never mind someone with Parkinson’s. It kicked off my emphysema, causing one of my lungs to go down.”
Although his “doctor flat-out refused to operate on my back”, they eventually found medical staff who were prepared to help, which provided a lifeline. His health problems continued to persist as he battled sepsis, which Osbourne admitted “really was touch and go”.
He added, “But after two months of antibiotics — on a twice-a-day IV drip — I somehow bounced back. I honestly couldn’t believe it. The sepsis hadn’t killed me. I was gonna live to do my last show. I celebrated by getting pneumonia again.”
The Osbourne family made their way to the UK at the end of May, which he described as “a total shitshow, like most things are in our family”, but they did arrive safely.
Osbourne also said of rehearsing with Black Sabbath for three weeks before the concert, “It took us a while to blow the cobwebs off, start playing like our old selves again. But we got there eventually. And we were having fun, joking around like we were still kids in Aston.”
While he was hugely nervous before the big day, thankfully that dissipated when he arrived on-stage, recalling, “Suddenly I was looking out over 42,000 faces, with another 5.8 million watching online. That was when the emotion really hit me. I’d never really taken it on board that so many people liked me — or even knew who I was. It was overwhelming, man, it really was.”
He poignantly said of the show, “What I’ve realised is that the one place where I’m free of all my demons is on a stage. At Back to the Beginning, sitting on that throne, I felt at home, I felt at peace… I felt comfortable.”
Osbourne, who was open about his use of drugs during his younger years, also realised that no high was greater than performing, sharing, “I spent my whole life trying to get high from every substance known to man. But looking back now, I realise I was just trying to get back the feeling of when I was up there on stage, doing my job.”
The Black Sabbath frontman powerfully concluded of his final show, “Forty or fifty thousand voices singing back your words. All along, that’s what I was chasing. It was the best drug I ever took.”
The journey of Back to the Beginning has also been documented in the new BBC film, Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, which aired on October 2nd. In the documentary, he said after the concert, “It’s been a great life. If I could live my life again, I wouldn’t change a damn thing.”
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