Rock icon Ozzy Osbourne closed the Commonwealth Games in style with his first live performance in over 3 years

Advertisement
Rock icon Ozzy Osbourne closed the Commonwealth Games in style with his first live performance in over 3 years
Ozzy Osbourne was born in Birmingham, the host city of this year's Commonwealth Games.Getty/Alex Pantling
  • Ozzy Osbourne performed live for the first time in three years to close the Commonwealth Games.
  • He reunited with Black Sabbath guitarist Tommy Iommi to perform two of the group's biggest hits.
Advertisement

Rock icon Ozzy Osbourne made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Monday, performing live for the first time in over three years.

Osbourne and Tony Iommi, two of Black Sabbath's original iron members, joined forces with two other musicians to draw the curtain on the event at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England.

The 73-year-old vocalist and Iommi were both born in Birmingham, and Osbourne paid tribute to his hometown during their performance of Sabbath's hits "Iron Man" and "Paranoid."

"I love you, Birmingham, it's good to be back!" he told the crowd.

Osbourne's last time on stage was at the 2019 American Music awards alongside Post Malone for a performance of their duet, "Take What You Want."

Advertisement

The last time he played alongside Iommi or any of the other founding members of Black Sabbath was in February 2017 for the final gig of the band's farewell tour, "The End."

Shortly after Birmingham was announced as the host city for the Commonwealth Games in December 2017, Osbourne hinted that he was open to a reunion with his former band members.

Asked by ITV News whether he'd consider playing the opening ceremony for the games, he said: "Yeah, that would be fantastic.

"With Black Sabbath or on my own."

A number of other musicians from Birmingham performed at Monday's closing ceremony, including Dexys Midnight Runners, Apache Indian, Musical Youth, UB40, and Panjabi MC.

Advertisement

Black Sabbath has sold over 70 million albums worldwide and in 2019 was presented a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

{{}}