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Black Sabbath co-founder Geezer Butler recalls being surprised at how \u201cfrail\u201d Ozzy Osbourne was in the weeks leading up to the band\u2019s last concert on July 5.<\/a><\/p>\n In a post<\/a> on The Sunday Times, bassist Butler recounted the rehearsals for the show in Villa Park, located in Birmingham, England, not far from where he and Osbourne grew up. Butler and fellow Black Sabbath co-founders Tony Iommi and Bill Ward had started rehearsing about a month for their final show.<\/p>\n More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, not having played together for 20 years, it took a couple of days to get rid of the rust,\u201d Butler wrote. \u201cThen it was time for Ozzy to join us. I knew he wasn\u2019t in good health, but I wasn\u2019t prepared to see how frail he was. He was helped into the rehearsal room by two helpers and a nurse and was using a cane \u2014 being Ozzy, the cane was black and studded with gold and precious stones. He didn\u2019t really say much beyond the usual greetings and when he sang, he sat in a chair. We ran through the songs but we could see it was exhausting him after six or seven songs. We had a bit of a chat, but he was really quiet compared with the Ozzy of old. After a couple more weeks we were ready for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n The show did go on, with a slew of celebrities making appearances during the 10-hour concert, titled \u201cBack to the Beginning.\u201d \u201cFans lucky to be there surely had an immersive stadium show experience they\u2019ll never forget,\u201d wrote Lina Lecaro in a<\/a> recap for The Hollywood Reporter.<\/a><\/p>\n But, for Butler, \u201cthe strangest part of that show was the end,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNormally, we would all hug each other and take a bow to the audience. But Ozzy was on his throne and we hadn\u2019t thought that out. What do we do? Tony shook his hand, I presented him with a cake, but it was such a strange feeling to end our story like that. I wish I\u2019d had more time backstage with Ozzy, but wishes are redundant now. As Ozzy used to say: \u2018Wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which comes first.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cNobody knew he\u2019d be gone from us little more than two weeks after the final show,\u201d Butler continued. But I am so grateful we got to play one last time together in front of his beloved fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Osbourne died July 22<\/a> at age 76. He revealed his Parkinson\u2019s disease diagnosis<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n In his post, Butler also wrote about how he met Osbourne and the band\u2019s early years. He remembered another side of Osbourne, who earned the nickname\u00a0\u201cThe Prince of Darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, Ozzy wasn\u2019t the Prince of Darkness \u2014 if anything he was the Prince of Laughter,\u201d Butler wrote. \u201cHe\u2019d do anything for a laugh, a born entertainer.\u201d<\/p>\n But he was also a good friend, Butler recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cWe became inseparable brothers in arms, always looking out for each other,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPeople always thought Ozzy was a feral wild man, but he had a heart of pure gold. Most of his infamous antics \u2014 the bat saga, biting the head off a dove, pissing on the Alamo, snorting lines of ants and the rest \u2014 came in his solo years, away from the restraints of the Sabbath crew. But if you were a friend in need, Ozzy was always there for you. When my son was born with a heart defect, Ozzy called me every day to see how I was coping, even though we hadn\u2019t spoken for a year.\u201d<\/p>\n Butler also showed appreciation for the fans who showed up at the last concert to celebrate Osbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cThe love from the fans and all the bands, musicians, singers and solo artists that night was incredible,\u201d he wrote. \u201cEveryone had come to pay homage to the Prince. I am so privileged to have spent most of my life with him. Of course there are millions of things I will think of that I should have written, but how can I sum up 57 incredible years of friendship in a few paragraphs? God bless, Oz, it has been one hell of a ride! Love you!\u201d<\/p>\n Butler, Iommi and Ward also paid tribute <\/a>\u2014 along with other stars<\/a> \u2014 to Osbourne on social media last week.<\/p>\n Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/p>\n Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black Sabbath co-founder Geezer Butler recalls being surprised at how \u201cfrail\u201d Ozzy Osbourne was in the weeks leading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[17959,96,13138,128,2776,10058,17958,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-28837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-bill-ward","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-geezer-butler","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-ozzy-osbourne","13":"tag-the-hollywood-reporter","14":"tag-tony-iommi","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}