OZZY OSBOURNE

“ALL THE SHIT I’D BEEN THROUGH MELTED AWAY”

In this exclusive extract from his new book, Last Rites , Ozzy Osbourne looked back on his surprise return to the stage at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – and how it ushered in his final chapter

PRESS/ROSS HALFIN

No one expected Ozzy Osbourne to appear onstage at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in his hometown of Birmingham. The singer had been forced to cancel his farewell No More Tours II tour due to a combination of the Covid pandemic and multiple health issues, including Parkinson’s and a spinal injury that had left him struggling to walk unaided.

But on August 8 of that year, Ozzy and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi made a surprise appearance at the ceremony, playing Sabbath’s Iron Man and Paranoid in front of thousands of people in Alexander Stadium and millions more watching the live broadcast. As Ozzy recounted in this exclusive extract from his just-published posthumous autobiography Last Rites, his return to Birmingham was loaded with emotion and fraught with the possibility that something could go wrong – but it would ultimately lead to the grand farewell that was Back To The Beginning.

This is the story of the night Ozzy Osbourne came home.

Tony and Ozzy: when it came to surprise special guests for the ceremony, none could’ve been finer

GETTY/EDDIE KEOGH

It was an incredible feeling, landing in England for the first time in eight or nine years, knowing that I was gonna be representing my country and my home town. The old stage fright was coming back with a vengeance, though. Especially ’cos the closing ceremony of the games was gonna be broadcast live on BBC One.

Even without the cameras there, when it’s a special event like that it’s very different to being on tour. You only get one shot. If you make a mistake, that’s it. Add the cameras, and it takes the fear to a whole new level. Nine times out of ten when there’s cameras there, I fuck it up. Meanwhile, there’s absolutely nothing worse than watching yourself back later on. When I see myself performing, I can remember exactly where my head was at every single moment. And if I yodel a line – meaning my voice cracks and I warble – I cringe so hard, man. It’s like when I listen to myself talking in interviews. I can’t stand it. I have to switch it off.