Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon have revealed he will not be able to remain on stage throughout Black Sabbath’s farewell show because he can no longer walk.
Osbourne – nicknamed the Prince of Darkness – won’t be able to perform a full set at the final Black Sabbath show, instead doing “bits and pieces” due to symptoms caused by his Parkinson’s.
The legendary rock singer, 76, is hoping to appear and take part at his own pace.
“I’m not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath but I am doing little bits and pieces with them,” Ozzy, 76, said. “I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable.”
A final reunion concert is planned for the band in July, called Back to the Beginning.
“I am trying to get back on my feet,” Osbourne added. “When you get up in the morning, you just jump out of bed. I have to balance myself, but I’m not dead. I’m still actively doing things.”
Osbourne’s wife and manager Sharon has said that while he “can’t walk” his illness “doesn’t affect his voice”.
The July 5 show will take place at Villa Park in the band’s hometown, Birmingham.
The concert will see the group’s most iconic line-up – frontman Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – play live together for the first time in two decades.
The massive event is also set to play host to appearances from Metallica, Slayer, Panterra, Tom Morello, Alice in chains and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Slash, Billy Corgan and more.
Osbourne, who was once rumoured to have eaten a live bat onstage, has had various health issues in recent years, stemming from multiple surgeries.
“I have made it to 2025. I can’t walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I’m still alive,” he said. “I may be moaning that I can’t walk, but I look down the road, and there’s people that didn’t do half as much as me and didn’t make it.”
Sharon explained that her husband was doing “really great” at the moment and that Ozzy was feeling “very emotional” about the final Sabbath show, and that it was “what he wants”
“He wants to say thank you to everybody,” she said. “He didn’t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.”
“He’s got Parkinson’s, which we all know, but he’s great and it doesn’t affect his voice.
“He feels like he’s never had a chance to thank the fans; to say ‘thank you for this unbelievable life’.
“Parkinson’s is a progressive disease. It’s not something you can stabilise. It affects different parts of the body and it’s affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it’s ever been.”
Iommi told NME that the Sabbath gig would “do him good”.
He said: “That’s what it’s all about: he wants to get out and do something.”
Sharon said the concert is “just about celebrating the old music that still lives on” rather than Black Sabbath releasing any new material.
“You get to a stage in your career where whatever you do just doesn’t stand up to what you did before,” she said. “To be able to rest on your laurels and say, ‘People still love that and it’s still selling and we can’t do better than what we’ve done’, that’s enough.”
She also described the date as “a celebration – of the genre and the pioneers who started it and passed it on to all these bands”.
Sharon said: “Usually this thing is done when you’re dead – so it’s nice that these guys can be alive to be appreciated.
“Can you imagine the photo at the end of it with all of these guys together? One mass of icons together out here. That ending photo will be incredible and it will go down in history.”
All profits from Sabbath’s final show will go to charity Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice – a children’s hospice supported by Aston Villa.