It's been a week now...can we all admit...(Ozzy/Sabbath)

[GoodJudge]

I agree with a lot of the OP. I think every song player that day should've been either an Ozzy or Sabbath song. People can see bands playing their own music at their own shows.

The one that I hated the most was the Ghost guy singing BATM. He has no range. He's an awful singer on his own songs. And to see him butcher one of the most anticipated songs of the entire day was just sad and disappointing.

Good point, and also what was that idiot even doing there?

He's the creator of one of the very few successful hard rock / metal bands formed in the last 2 decades.

As for OP:

[TravisBicklesMohawk]

It is laughable to think that we've seen the last of Ozzy, and that he will be retiring.
As long as Sharon has his leash, he will still show up either on the concert stage in a wheel chair, or some moronic Youtube show that will feature him reviewing funny pet videos.

Sharon seems to have forgotten that most of the world has moved on from Ozzy.

[NeonKnite]

Sharon seems to have forgotten that most of the world has moved on from Ozzy.

Yes, it looked like that on July 5th.

[Love_Industry]

As long as Sharon has his leash, he will still show up either on the concert stage in a wheel chair, or some moronic Youtube show that will feature him reviewing funny pet videos.

More likely the latter. Say what you will about Sharon but she usually gets it right what is on brand and what's not.

Ersatz rock stars like Paul Di'Anno and Steve Grimmett can go on stage in a wheelchair for a whole tour. Ozzy freaking Osbourne can't unless it's an special event like this or like Grohl after an accident.

Dumb-ass youtube or tiktok videos? Sure. Look it's the old guy from the Osbournes!

[keyofgee]

I am just waiting on Jinglesthechristmasmouse review...

but IMO, Ozzy loves his fans, sharon loves the money, they both win. They took grandpa one a route 66 trip one more time because he wanted it...he went out on top regardless if it wasn't perfect. I watched it, imperfections and all and didn't care. Did you also notice Nuno slide into the wrong fret position as the solo on BATM was coming toward the end? I did and don't care, that guy was blazing.

[Jason Jennifer Leigh]

It would’ve been depressing even if he was healthy because it was the last Black Sabbath/Ozzy show ever.

He did too many solo songs, Tommi didn’t want him to do a solo set at all because he knew the Black Sabbath set would suffer and it did.

I was not impressed with the bands, Halestorm was the best band there, best singer, best front person, best performer and best ass.

Ozzy got his final show with flaws and all … good for him and good for God.

[Anthrax442]

Ozzy was auto-tuned for the pay per view live stream.

Understood, but that's still singing, it's not miming to backing tracks.

[DangerZone]

It’s crazy - Ozzy is 5 years older than Johnny cash when he died.
His performance of “mama I’m coming home” has Cash’s “hurt” vibes

[Tyketto Meniketti]

It certainly made no sense that Steven Tyler sang a Zep song. Although, he did it well.

All performances should've centered around BS/Ozzy with - maybe - one of their own tunes.

That said, I think the highlight (beyond Nuno's remarkable heavy lifting) was Bill Ward shirtless. At 77, you can do what you want!

[pieceofme]

It certainly made no sense that Steven Tyler sang a Zep song. Although, he did it well.

All performances should've centered around BS/Ozzy with - maybe - one of their own tunes.

That said, I think the highlight (beyond Nuno's remarkable heavy lifting) was Bill Ward shirtless. At 77, you can do what you want!

That was a real lowlight. No one wants to see a man that age that looks like a cancer lump.

[Jason Jennifer Leigh]

I’d like to hear the autotuned version, I can’t find it on YouTube. I thought he sounded decent on the non autotuned clips except for the “Mama” song.

[GoodJudge]

I’d like to hear the autotuned version, I can’t find it on YouTube. I thought he sounded decent on the non autotuned clips except for the “Mama” song.

All the rips from the transmission that I downloaded from YT on Sunday morning were gone by lunchtime thanks to the copyright lawyers. There are supposedly several rips of the whole thing on torrent sites, if you still do that. I saw one that was +50Gb, wasn't interested as I already had what I wanted from YT, and I read on Reddit about one half that size.

I rarely bother with 'phone footage from row ZZ' videos, I know Ozzy was 'fixed in post' but I'd rather have that than the "miming to tapes" doll-sellers - sorry, bands - that are so beloved of some here. But good to know that he wasn't actually that bad in real life, allowing for all his health problems.

[Anthrax442]

I’d like to hear the autotuned version, I can’t find it on YouTube. I thought he sounded decent on the non autotuned clips except for the “Mama” song.

All the rips from the transmission that I downloaded from YT on Sunday morning were gone by lunchtime thanks to the copyright lawyers. There are supposedly several rips of the whole thing on torrent sites, if you still do that. I saw one that was +50Gb, wasn't interested as I already had what I wanted from YT, and I read on Reddit about one half that size.

I rarely bother with 'phone footage from row ZZ' videos, I know Ozzy was 'fixed in post' but I'd rather have that than the "miming to tapes" doll-sellers - sorry, bands - that are so beloved of some here. But good to know that he wasn't actually that bad in real life, allowing for all his health problems.

The only problem with the rip that I saw was that it cut off the first half of Mastodon, but thankfully I was able to pull that from Youtube before it was gone.

[JizzySynatra]

I'm about 80% through the whole 10 hour show. I really enjoyed most of it. So far, the only weak points were Corgan (can't sing and his stage moves are absolutely laughable), didn't like the way Pantera sounded, Hagar was a joke besides a decent version of Bad Motor Scooter, and the strange timing Axl had the last part of the Gn'R set. I think I have Metallica, Ozzy, and Sabbath sets left to watch.

[risingfarce]

Ozzy was auto-tuned for the pay per view live stream.

Understood, but that's still singing, it's not miming to backing tracks.

Ozzy sang like shit at the last show, so much so that he was auto-tuned for the broadcast. He's always sung like shit in concert.

[risingfarce]

It certainly made no sense that Steven Tyler sang a Zep song. Although, he did it well.

All performances should've centered around BS/Ozzy with - maybe - one of their own tunes.

That said, I think the highlight (beyond Nuno's remarkable heavy lifting) was Bill Ward shirtless. At 77, you can do what you want!

It made no sense for Tyler to be there at all. He and his band have nothing to do with Sabbath and metal.

[NeonKnite]

It made no sense for Tyler to be there at all. He and his band have nothing to do with Sabbath and metal.

He was there as a giant in the industry paying tribute to another giant in the industry. It was showing respect for him to take time out of his life to fly to another continent and perform at an event expressly convened to honor Ozzy.

It's no different to that horrendous tribute album called KISS MY ASS that Gene and Paul created for themselves with a bunch of c and d-level acts. None of those acts had anything to do with KISS.

[parasite74]

...that in hindsight this show was more or less awful to depressing?

Yes, I said it.

I'm a huge Sabbath fan and early Ozzy too, but the majority of the performances either had zero to do with either of those things or were utterly destroyed by bad vocals. Even the "Changes" version wasn't 1/2 as OMFG-great as a ton of people seemed to think. The guy can yell high. Aside from that, it was not really fantastic by any stretch.

The excitemtn/vibe of the event was cool and the sentiment was good, I suppose, but the show overall was a cluster of sub-par performances. While most of the music was decent to nearly-great and the drummers killed it across the board, collectively, I doubt many people will be listening to any of this more than a time or two. Will there be an official release of this? Would anyone actually listen to it again?

Nuno gets a gold star and was MVP for all the heavy lifting he did (even while staying low-key and not show-boating), but some of the performances sounded embarrassingly amateurish. Ozzy is not Halford or Tate, but he does/did have a deceptively high range and of course a unique style which fit especially the Sabbath stuff perfectly. I would expect some of the best singers around to struggle with pulling off Freddie's song, but Ozzy? I've heard bar bands for decades do this stuff flawlessly. It's actually odd how many famous singers can't sing anything they didn't write or that wasn't written for them (I'm guilty too, but not famous so FU).

There was WAY too much non-Ozzy/Sabbath music throughout. Steven Tyler sounded surprisingly good for his age, but what does him singing "Walk This Way" have to do with anything really? Or a bunch of Slayer songs or GnR or Tool songs? Because they were Sabbath fans I suppose. Then why not at least play stuff that shows those influences and not just your "popular" songs? The Sabbath and Ozzy covers all seemed like an afterthought thrown in out of obligation in order to be included in this huge event. I'm sure many or most of those musicians were fans, but you could barely tell a lot of the time. The Ozzy/Sabbath stuff should have been the main focus. Not 3 or 4 greatest hits and then "oh, here's a bad version of _____ we threw together this week". There were a couple of exceptions, of course, like Metallica, but they were always known for pretty damn great covers.

Then there is Ozzy/Sabbath. Lord God, was Ozzy horrible in real life. YES, I GET IT, but it's borderline(?) humiliating to have him do so much if he is basically the walking dead. WTF? It's worse than Frankie Valli because Frankie's handlers aren't doing it in front of zillions around the world. I'm assuming Ozzy was a willing participant, but at a certain point we don't let grampa make the big decisions for himself anymore, right? This whole thing obviously felt like more of a tribute to (dying?) Ozzy than Sabbath as a band and I personally think it should have ended with Ozzy solo instead of Sabbath. I get the "back to the beginning" marketing angle, but Sabbath sounded beyond horrible after Ozzy used up his 10 seconds of energy on his solo stuff. The band was fine (especially Geezer), but Ozzy was crazily bad. Again, I get it, but it's like putting a 70-year-old boxing champ in the ring "one more time" (so WE can relive a bit of OUR OWN youth) to see him beaten and humiliated in front of the world. "Remembering" or "honoring" Ozzy shouldn't have been a carnival side-show, IMO. It's like the old version of the stage moms who tell their tin-eared daughters that they are "superstars" only to see them decimated publicly by the judges on American Idol for their obvious lack of ability. I think having Ozzy off to the side like the opposite of a roast watching musicians honor him without the pressure of doing what everyone knows he can't do would have been a MUCH more respectful move. This whole show felt more like "look how great WE are and oh yeah, some of us were also Sabbath fans". I think it was more about people wanting to "see Ozzy live" one more time before their own youth disappears altogether. It looked selfish.

Another thing is the "depressing" part. I'm an aging metal guy myself and I know lots of us can "still do it", but there is an old adage that says, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should". I'm not talking about middle-aged guys here, I'm talking about fucking elderly people playing music primarily BY and FOR young males. There is just something very depressing about an all-white-haired Slayer with Tom looking like someone just woke grandpa up from an after-dinner Thanksgiving nap. Yes, they sounded good, but still. I remember joking with my own band at our 2019 reunion gig that we were all older than our own parents were back when we all were doing this shit for real. I told them to imagine our dads (back then) up on stage doing this show to illustrate the absurdity of it all. NO, it should be against the law, but it is just odd as hell. Old McCartney is one thing, and guys in the 40s or early 50s maybe, but senior citizens playing thrash is just bizarre to me. Steven Tyler looked like "cool grandma" dressed up as a "rocker" for Halloween, ffs.

Good for Jake E. Lee for being given some of the spotlight that Sharon (that cunt) tried so hard to snuff out. There were definitely a couple really good performances too, but in the end, this was more Ozzfest than Ozzy tribute.

Bring the hate or be adult enough to admit this was a shitshow of epic proportions. And save the "shouldn't people be allowed to do what they want????" horseshit too. Of course, they can do what they want even if it is ridiculous/laughable. While it might be fun to get an autograph from your favorite '80s porn star, that doesn't mean you want to see them fucking at 60 or 70. There just comes a time, IMO.

I concur on all of this. And the 2hour delay for the "livestream" was to fix Ozzy's vocals with autotune.

[Wiseacre]

It made no sense for Tyler to be there at all. He and his band have nothing to do with Sabbath and metal.

He was there as a giant in the industry paying tribute to another giant in the industry. It was showing respect for him to take time out of his life to fly to another continent and perform at an event expressly convened to honor Ozzy.

“Hi, my name is Steven. I would like to honor Ozzy by singing one of my own songs and a Led Zeppelin song to show that even though I am a year older than he is, I can still sing and even stand up on my own. In your face, Ozzy”

It's no different to that horrendous tribute album called KISS MY ASS that Gene and Paul created for themselves with a bunch of c and d-level acts. None of those acts had anything to do with KISS.

So, bands who were ALL KISS FANS recording their take on KISS SONGS when KISS were at one of their lowest points in popularity is “no different” than a guy singing his own song and a cover from another band in order to appear at a super high-profile concert to show he can still sing? There is LITERALLY no comparison, genius.

[Anthrax442]

It made no sense for Tyler to be there at all. He and his band have nothing to do with Sabbath and metal.

He was there as a giant in the industry paying tribute to another giant in the industry. It was showing respect for him to take time out of his life to fly to another continent and perform at an event expressly convened to honor Ozzy.

It's no different to that horrendous tribute album called KISS MY ASS that Gene and Paul created for themselves with a bunch of c and d-level acts. None of those acts had anything to do with KISS.

If we're going to say it was weird for anyone to be there, what about Ronnie Wood? I do NOT think about the Stones or the Faces when I think of Ozzy or Sabbath.

Hagar and Tyler probably at least played on some of the same festivals as Ozzy.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

I'd rather have seen a 25 minute Slade reunion than most of the other bands. That would have been much more English and of the same period as Sabbath.
Plus hearing Merry Christmas in Birmingham in a stadium in July summer time? Gold....

[JinglesTheChristmasMouse]

I am just waiting on Jinglesthechristmasmouse review...

OK.

[NeonKnite]

[So, bands who were ALL KISS FANS recording their take on KISS SONGS when KISS were at one of their lowest points in popularity is “no different” than a guy singing his own song and a cover from another band in order to appear at a super high-profile concert to show he can still sing? There is LITERALLY no comparison, genius.

It was a joke, you unfunny twat.

Can I post more funny pics of you, or are you gonna go cry to the mod again?

[JourneyRules]

LAglamrocker isn't reading all of that. Let ChatGPT shorten it to two paragraphs at most.

Done.

General Sentiment
The author is a lifelong Black Sabbath and Ozzy fan but found the tribute concert disappointing, even depressing. Despite initial excitement, they felt the show fell short in honoring the legacy properly.
Performance Issues
- Many vocal performances were subpar or unrelated to Ozzy/Sabbath’s music.
- Ozzy’s own appearance was described as heartbreaking, with the writer questioning the ethics of showcasing someone in poor health.
- Sabbath’s set suffered especially after Ozzy had spent his energy on solo material.
- Despite some decent musical moments (particularly by the drummers), the overall delivery felt amateurish.
Standouts and Lowlights
- Nuno Bettencourt was praised for his effort and humility.
- Jake E. Lee received recognition despite past controversies.
- Metallica’s covers were among the few bright spots.
- Steven Tyler sounded good, but his song choice was deemed unrelated.
Misaligned Tribute Focus
- Too much emphasis was placed on unrelated artists performing their own hits instead of covering Sabbath/Ozzy authentically.
- The event seemed more like an ego parade for the performers than a true tribute to the music and legacy.
Age Commentary & Audience Disconnect
- The writer felt that seeing elderly musicians trying to perform youth-oriented metal was uncomfortable, likening it to watching retirees cosplay as their younger selves.
- They made a broader point about aging in rock and the limits of nostalgia-driven performances.
Final Reflection
They felt the event leaned too heavily on spectacle and sentimentality, ultimately doing a disservice to Ozzy and Sabbath’s cultural impact. A more tasteful, respectful tribute without forcing aging artists into the spotlight might've been more appropriate.

[Deege]

Now the paying public has to do this again, paying hard earned money under another Sharon contrived gimmick.

Nobody HAD to.

[Wiseacre]

LAglamrocker isn't reading all of that. Let ChatGPT shorten it to two paragraphs at most.

Done.

General Sentiment
The author is a lifelong Black Sabbath and Ozzy fan but found the tribute concert disappointing, even depressing. Despite initial excitement, they felt the show fell short in honoring the legacy properly.
Performance Issues
- Many vocal performances were subpar or unrelated to Ozzy/Sabbath’s music.
- Ozzy’s own appearance was described as heartbreaking, with the writer questioning the ethics of showcasing someone in poor health.
- Sabbath’s set suffered especially after Ozzy had spent his energy on solo material.
- Despite some decent musical moments (particularly by the drummers), the overall delivery felt amateurish.
Standouts and Lowlights
- Nuno Bettencourt was praised for his effort and humility.
- Jake E. Lee received recognition despite past controversies.
- Metallica’s covers were among the few bright spots.
- Steven Tyler sounded good, but his song choice was deemed unrelated.
Misaligned Tribute Focus
- Too much emphasis was placed on unrelated artists performing their own hits instead of covering Sabbath/Ozzy authentically.
- The event seemed more like an ego parade for the performers than a true tribute to the music and legacy.
Age Commentary & Audience Disconnect
- The writer felt that seeing elderly musicians trying to perform youth-oriented metal was uncomfortable, likening it to watching retirees cosplay as their younger selves.
- They made a broader point about aging in rock and the limits of nostalgia-driven performances.
Final Reflection
They felt the event leaned too heavily on spectacle and sentimentality, ultimately doing a disservice to Ozzy and Sabbath’s cultural impact. A more tasteful, respectful tribute without forcing aging artists into the spotlight might've been more appropriate.

That’s a damn good summary.