Back in July, Ozzy Osbourne got the rare opportunity to retire from a long career on his own terms with a huge final concert. The Back To The Beginning concert was a way to celebrate Ozzy’s time as Black Sabbath frontman as well as give him a proper send off. No one expected his death only 17 days later. But his son, Jack Osbourne, recently revealed that he had a feeling the concert was more than just a retirement from music and public life.
“Before he went on stage, I ran back into the dressing room and I just gave him a big hug and I just kissed him and I just said, ‘Crush it, you’re going to do so good,’” Jack said in an emotional appearance on Good Morning America.
He continued, “I was in the crowd and I was with my brother [Louis] and we both were just crying – it wasn’t because of feeling sorry for him, it wasn’t because we were sad for him, I think it was because we knew it was the last time.”
Jack Osbourne Described Ozzy’s Final Concert as Opportunity For His Dad To Say A Dignified Goodbye
“In hindsight, it kind of was a living wake, if you think about it,” Jack said. He then added that overall it was a positive experience, because “He got to say goodbye to everyone.”
The BBC documentary Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home is currently available, but only for U.K. viewers at the moment. Still, the doc captured Ozzy’s feelings about his final concert in Birmingham in his own words.
“The only thing I really got … what was terribly frustrating for me, I had to sit there instead of running across the stage,” Ozzy said near the end of the documentary. “That was fucking torture, because I wanted to get off that [chair] so much.”
Back in July, Ozzy’s older son Louis spoke to the BBC following the concert. He called the experience “mind-blowing,” then shared his thoughts about what they’d wanted the concert to be. Additionally, he expressed his emotions about seeing his father perform for the last time.
“I was sobbing at times. It was everything we wanted it to be and more,” he said. “I had been anxious for months about this as I’ve been worried about my dad’s ability to perform with his Parkinson’s disease.” He then added, “I just wanted it to be a dignified send off for him. But as soon as he started singing we knew he was gonna nail it.”
Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
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