If there’s one thing you can’t deny about Ozzy Osbourne, it’s that he always gave it all while on stage, even if that meant putting his body on the line. That toughness was proven the last time Ozzy would ever perform in El Paso over 20 years ago.
Ozzy proved that not even a leg injury would stop the Madman from giving one hell of a show. All of this was captured on tape and shown to the world on the classic television show, The Osbournes.
Ozzy would break his leg while performing at UTEP in the early 2000s
On November 3, 2001, Ozzy Osbourne would perform at the UTEP Special Events Center (now called the Don Haskins Center) while on his Merry Mayhem tour. It was revealed on Season 1, Episode 6 of The Osbournes that Ozzy himself admitted that he broke his leg during the concert: “As the shows were going on, my leg was getting really…really painful… I’ve never broken my leg before so I don’t know what it was like & I thought ‘oh yeah that’s a break”.
The incident on stage even had its own segment within the episode called “Break A Leg” (of course). Sharon even warned Ozzy to NOT jump around on stage. Naturally…he did. (OF COURSE he did cause he’s Ozzy!!).
Ozzy only did a handful of songs during that concert (11 in total). It’s unknown exactly WHEN he broke his leg but it was clear that after the band was done performing, he was in discomfort. Ozzy was holding his leg & had to be helped backstage by security and road management.
Ozzy & his band would continue to do 2 more shows in November (Memphis on the 5th & New Orleans on the 7th) before eventually stopping the tour to get surgery done on his leg. The tour would resume on November 29th.
Did Ozzy ever come back to El Paso?
That November 2001 concert would be the final time that Ozzy would perform in El Paso on stage (as a solo artist or with Black Sabbath). HOWEVER, White Sands WOULD make an appearance on Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour in Season 3. Ozzy got to enjoy some local Mexican food and would even get to hear an El Paso mariachi group perform Black Sabbath/Ozzy covers FOR the Ozzman himself. You can read that story here.
El Paso will never forget you Ozzy. Long Live Ozzy…
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