It’s worth pondering if Black Sabbath would have returned the favour had the shoe been on the other foot (though it’s actually quite easy to imagine Ozzy having a go at Fix You) but, in this cosmic reality at least, it seems that even Coldplay love Ozzy Osbourne.
Taking to the stage in Nashville last night, just hours after the news of Osbourne’s death, the band’s frontman, Chris Martin, told the audience: "We'd like to dedicate this whole show to the incredible genius talent, and characterful gift to the world who was Ozzy Osbourne. We send our love to his family.”
Mid-show, Martin then took to the piano to belt out an impassioned and perfectly palatable version of Sabbath’s Changes.
Changes was something of an outlier on the band’s fourth album (1972’s Black Sabbath 4) being a drum and guitar-free ballad that had fans pondering their hero’s intent, though in more recent times the song became a UK number one in re-recorded 2003 form, as an Ozzy duet with his daughter, Kelly.
The song was also part of the recent Back to the Beginning live event, where it was performed by Yungblud.
After performing the much-loved fan favourite, Martin added: "Ozzy, we love you, Wherever you're going,” possibly making reference to Osbourne’s Satanic stage persona.
The Prince of Darkness?
Black Sabbath played fast and loose with their relationship to the dark side, with Osbourne taking on the role of Prince of Darkness while also assuring fans that he and the band’s devil worship was all for show.
The frontman famously told music mag Spinner back in 2010 that: “We never practiced fucking black magic! The only black magic we had was chocolates!”
Also offering a little Osbourne tribute were Gojira - who also performed at Back to the Beginning earlier this month - who dedicated their song Flying Whales to Osbourne’s memory while performing in Istanbul last night, before taking on Sabbath's Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes.
"We will remember Ozzy. He might have died, but he will live forever - and we all know that,” said frontman Joe Duplantier.
And Alice Cooper dedicated his show in Cardiff last night to Osbourne. "Tonight, we found out that the world lost Ozzy just minutes before going on stage in Cardiff, Wales, which is about 2 hours from the place where Ozzy was born," he wrote on Instagram.
"Alice and his band then dedicated tonight's show to Ozzy's memory and they were able to celebrate along with the crowd who had also just learned of this great loss for rock n roll."
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