[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

Tony and Bozzy close the Commonwealth Games

General consensus seems to be that this will be the last time Bozzy appears on stage in the UK!

Reading through this seems to indicate that it is unlikely he will be playing his UK dates!

A metal frame was used to keep Ozzy Osbourne safely in position on a tiny, raised platform when the Prince of Darkness made a surprise appearance during the spectacular closing ceremony fireworks of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games...

Tony had worked on several songs for Ozzy's brilliant new solo album, Patient Number 9, but never thought the singer could travel from the United States in time to play at the Games...

Ozzy revealed in January 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's. Tony said Ozzy had also suffered a fall at home which left him requiring surgery to install pins in his neck and spine. After recovering from Covid, Tony said Ozzy recently had another operation which he thought was to modify how the pins were working....

Tony, 74, said: "That last operation was only a few weeks ago and doctors told him Ozzy he couldn't fly. We'd been invited to perform at the Games a long time ago, but because of Ozzy's condition I'd forgotten we'd even been asked...

"I never thought that he would be able to come and perform at the Commonwealth Games because of his operation. And then when he said he was coming over we were asked to keep it all a secret so that nobody would know....

"I don't know how Ozzy managed to get here from LA without anybody spotting him. I don't think he came in a private jet...

"When he went out to get into position, he was hobbling. When we'd finished, (Ozzy's wife) Sharon said: 'Look how he's walking now... he's walking OK back to the dressing room'. It had obviously done him good."...

Tony, who has battled cancer, then revealed how the legendary frontman had been kept safe at the Perry Barr stadium, close to where all of Sabbath's founder members had grown up in Aston. "Because Ozzy was standing on a platform on top of another platform there was a metal stand he could lean on," Tony explained. "I thought he did really well. It was great to see him back up there...

"Perhaps we could have done three songs, but I just didn't know how Ozzy was going to be having come up so late."