Geezer Butler on Ozzy Osbourne at Final Black Sabbath Rehearsals: "I Was Just Shocked To See Him Like That"

"I knew Ozzy wasn't in the best of health. I knew Bill [Ward] hadn't been well for a while. Tony [Iommi] was up for it, and I was up for it as long as everybody else was. And I said 'yeah' straight away, 'I'll do it.' Especially as it was at Villa Park, [the home stadium of] my football team and one of the earliest places I ever went to and I was a little child."

"I knew Ozzy was very ill, but I didn't realize how ill he was. ... on the third day, Ozzy came in and he was helped in by two helpers. And I was just shocked to see him like that. And, of course, being Ozzy, he had to crack a few jokes and things. And they had like an armchair set aside so he could sit down to sing through the songs, 'cause he couldn't stand up."

"I think we rehearsed about six or seven songs and picked out four or five. We knew we could only do four or five 'cause of the time limit, and we picked out the four or five songs that sounded the best and which we were most comfortable with. And after that, we fell into the old Sabbath again. Ozzy could only do it"

Geezer Butler described initial concern about how the band members would perform and immediately agreed to play the Villa Park finale. He acknowledged Ozzy Osbourne's poor health and Bill Ward's longstanding issues, while noting Tony Iommi's and his own willingness. Butler recounted rehearsals that began with Tony, Bill and himself, with Ozzy joining on the third day. Butler was shocked by Ozzy's frailty, as Ozzy required two helpers and an armchair to sing seated. The band rehearsed six or seven songs, selected four or five due to time limits, and then fell back into the old Sabbath sound.

Read at Consequence