Ozzy Osbourne returned to the stage for a surprise appearance at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.
The Black Sabbath legend reunited with his bandmate Tony Iommi – as well as bassist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos – for a rendition of ‘Paranoid’.
On Monday night (08.08.22), the hard rock icons appeared in Ozzy and Tony’s hometown of Birmingham – the birthplace of Sabbath – at the city’s Alexander Stadium.
The show was planned as a celebration of the West Midlands’ musical heritage, and the frontman proudly shouted out: “Birmingham forever!”
The 73-year-old star added: “I love you, Birmingham – it’s good to be back!”
And he later took to Instagram to share a clip of the performance, and wrote: “What a way to bring it all to an end! Thank you, Birmingham. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The performance came over four years after the final night of Sabbath’s ‘The End’ tour, while Ozzy hasn’t been on stage since joining Post Malone for a rendition of their ‘Take What You Want’ collaboration at the American Music Awards in 2019.
Just last week, Ozzy revealed he was delighted to hear the band’s 1970 classic ‘Paranoid’ played at the end of the games on August 1.
He captioned a clip of the TV coverage on Instagram: “This was played at the end of today’s #CommonwealthGames. I really wish I could have been there with you all. Just amazing for Birmingham!”
Iommi, 74, was joined by acclaimed saxophonist Soweto Kinch to perform the dream sequence, ‘Hear my Voice’ – which is based on the title track from 2020 film ‘Trial of the Chicago Seven’ – reimagined by local RnB vocalists Indigo Marshall and Gambimi at the opening ceremony at the Alexander Stadium last week.
Ozzy has been recovering from a major operation at home in Los Angeles, and he wasn’t expected to be part of the festivities this week.
Along with Parkinson’s and a bout of COVID-19, Ozzy has been dealing with the fallout from a brutal 2003 quad biking accident.
He suffered neck injuries, which were later worsened by a 2019 fall that resulted in 15 screws being inserted into his back.