Judas Priest and Rob Halford have devoted ‘Giants In The Sky’ to the late Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne.
The demise of the heavy steel pioneer and iconic Black Sabbath frontman was introduced on Tuesday (July 22). His household mentioned in an announcement that the 76-year-old music icon was “surrounded by love” on the time of his passing.
It got here shortly after he took to the stage for the large ‘Again To The Starting’ gig in Birmingham on July 5 – marking his last present each as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath. Whereas a reason for demise has not been revealed, Ozzy had notably been coping with a myriad of well being points for quite a few years, together with being recognized with Parkinson’s Illness in 2019.
Yesterday (July 23), Judas Priest carried out on the Scarborough Open Air Theatre in England, only a day after Ozzy’s tragic passing was introduced. 13 songs into their set, Priest and frontman Rob Halford took a second to honour Ozzy Osbourne.
“Look, it’s been powerful the final 24 hours proper? It’s been powerful. However would need us to be doing this, he would need us to be collectively, he would need us to be having a very good time, which is what we’re doing proper now. We love you, Ozzy!,” Halford mentioned.
“This subsequent track is all about him and all the different greats that we’ve misplaced. Their music lives eternally. They was once down right here on the earth plain, now they’re on the sky plain as we name it. That is ‘Giants In The Sky’!”
Watch Rob Halford’s speech beneath.
This isn’t the primary time Rob Halford and Judas Priest have shared their admiration for Ozzy and the remainder of the Black Sabbath gang. Whereas Judas Priest weren’t in a position to take part within the mammoth ‘Again To The Starting’ farewell live performance earlier this month resulting from scheduling points, they shared a nifty cowl of Black Sabbath’s ‘Struggle Pigs’ forward of the present.
Talking on their unlucky absence from ‘Again To The Starting’ earlier this 12 months, Halford shared that Judas Priest weren’t conscious of the gig till it was too late. On the identical evening because the Villa Park present, Judas Priest performed a gig with Scorpions in Hannover, celebrating the German arduous rock bands’ sixtieth anniversary. This, Halford defined, was locked in earlier than information of the Black Sabbath occasion was shared.
Halford additionally revealed that Sharon Osbourne had supplied to fly the band out on a personal jet for a fast look however they determined not the take the danger as a result of probabilities of technical points.
Whereas no present member of Judas Priest have been in a position to attend Sabbath’s last present, Ok.Ok. Downing – who was the guitarist for the band from their formation up till 2011 – was on the present and represented “the spirit of the band”.
In 2023, Halford picked Black Sabbath’s legendary self-titled debut album as one of many 5 albums he’d be high quality listening to in perpetuity if he have been stranded on an island: “The unique Black Sabbath album that I feel is the motivator for all nice issues in heavy steel.”
In 2020, the Judas Priest frontman as soon as once more picked the identical album as one among his 10 favorite albums of all time: “They have been native guys from the identical neighborhood, the identical neck of the woods as Priest. We actually grew up collectively, inventing this nice music that we love and cherish a lot known as heavy-metal music. I selected the ‘Black Sabbath’ album simply because, like so many bands, your first one or two information actually set up who you might be as a band… With ‘Black Sabbath’, right here was the primary instance of what heavy-metal music ought to sound like, simply the feel, the tone, the construction of all the materials, Ozzy’s very distinctive voice.”
In addition to seeing the final efficiency from Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Invoice Ward and Geezer Butler all collectively, that huge present additionally boasted a star-studded line-up, together with Weapons N’ Roses, KoRn, Instrument, Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Alice In Chains, Gojira and extra. It quickly went on to turn into the highest-grossing charity live performance of all time, bringing in cash for quite a few good causes.
Following information of Ozzy’s passing, numerous tributes have since poured in from throughout the music world, together with messages from his former bandmates Iommi, Ward and Butler.
The likes of Ghost, Alice Cooper, and Gojira have paid their respects to Osbourne too, whereas followers have been sharing footage and reminiscences from the legendary artist’s last performances.
Different tributes have come from the likes of Elton John, Yungblud, Billie Joe Armstrong of Inexperienced Day, Jack White and lots of extra.
