Mama, I'm Staying Home ...

[uwe]

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/feb/01/ozzy-osbourne-to-retire-from-touring-due-to-declining-health

Makes sense/was inevitable - I wasn't expecting him to get back on his touring feet in any case, men his age shouldn't fool around with quads, not much protection there. Don't want to see him die or in constant pain on a tour bus either. Saw him three-times: once with Randy, once with Zakk, once with his fellow Brummies.

End of a long shift, bats and pigeons can now breathe a sigh of relief! 

[Basvarken]

It's a miracle he made it to 75.
Of course Sharon will find a way to keep milking her beloved cash cow.
What's next, an announced hologram tour? 

[westen44]

It's a miracle he made it to 75.
Of course Sharon will find a way to keep milking her beloved cash cow.
What's next, an announced hologram tour? 

I know it doesn't make too much difference, but he won't be 75 until December. 

[TBird1958]

I never did get to see him, wish I had with Randy R.

[uwe]

Randy was live very much like a diminutive version of Mick Ronson - you could tell the influence, but he looked great. A bit like Cherie Currie in polka dots wielding a Flying V too, he was androgynous. And he played very fluidly and melodically though not with the effective economy of Iommi or EvH; he was a bit a puppy peeing all over the rug. Not Vinnie Vincent territory yet, but getting there.

Having thus endeared myself to the Randy crowd ...

Years later I saw Ozzy in Phoenix, Az, with a juvenile, then still rake-thin and clean-shaven/'no beard growth yet' Zakk (a much more muscular player than Randy btw) and Geezer Butler lost on bass (he admitted finding Bob Daisley's bass lines tasking for his own style). Ozzy sounded a bit rough that night (and I'm not sure whether all vocal lines we heard that night were actually from him), but the crowd loved it.

And then finally with the Sabs touring 13. His voice was actually in surprisingly fine form that night and he was really adept at elegantly cutting corners to not have to sing any bits that might have endangered his vocal performance. When he's with Iommi and Butler, he's all of the sudden no longer Ozzy the lovable jester and entertainer, but the one and only Black Sabbath singer ever, a band member, not a leader. He fits in just right. Sabbath with Dio had their own qualities (seen that line-up twice), but for that brooding, ghoulish, eternal darkness sound, there is no one better.

[gearHed289]

I think it's a good thing he's retiring, but it's too bad he wasn't able to go out and finish his tour.

[lowend1]

Sabbath with Dio had their own qualities (seen that line-up twice), but for that brooding, ghoulish, eternal darkness sound, there is no one better.

What, no seeing Sabbath with Glenn Hughes? If for nothing other than the Blackmore connection?
No Tony Martin, either then? Ray Gillen? Jeff Fenholt? Dave Donato? Dave Walker?

[Highlander]

Missed seeing Randy (had tickets... went to a party, ffs), but saw the two preceding tours with Sabbath... got to see Sabbath a couple of times with Dio, and the single Gillan tour... (double ffs)

[doombass]

I'm with Rob, he's a Miracle Man for surviving this far.

[uwe]

What, no seeing Sabbath with Glenn Hughes? If for nothing other than the Blackmore connection?
No Tony Martin, either then? Ray Gillen? Jeff Fenholt? Dave Donato? Dave Walker?

I've seen Sabbath with Tony Martin (+ Cozy Powell and Neil Murray) - he was a very good singer, but not Sabbath front man material. Hughes and Gillen never even toured with Sabbath in Germany, but only in the US! I could have seen Sabbath on their 83 tour, but had a late Sunday shift at the peepshow club I worked at the time so I skipped going to the gig, thinking they would again tour Germany soon. The DP reunion in 1984 put an end to that! To this day I could kick myself that I didn't go, it's supposed to have been a great gig. I love Born Again with Gillan to this day, but Seventh Star left me cold even back then - Glenn or no Glenn, he certainly wasn't a Sabbath singer.

Truth be told, I always liked Sabbath, but I was never a die hard fan. I'd see them occasionally, but not on a regular basis. I'm also the weird guy who prefers their later albums (my favorite Ozzy era album is the almost orchestral Sabbath Bloody Sabbath) to the first two which I found musically very formative - a bit like second rate Cream on a broken record player going at 25 rather than 33 rpm. 

[Alanko]

I never did get to see him, wish I had with Randy R.

I saw Black Sabbath in our local concrete barn back in 2013. Ozzy kept dipping his head into buckets of water onstage and then killed a couple of radio mics throughout the gig due to excess water. The drummer was not Bill Ward but some younger guy, a hard hitter, who had no swing in his playing. Ozzy shouted "lemme see your hands" over each and every guitar solo as well.

I'm glad I saw 3/4s of Black Sabbath, but if I want to listen to quality I listen to the first four Sabbath albums. The reunion I saw was tipping slightly into Geezer plus Tony Iommi and Mega Star Ozzy Osbourne, star of MTV's The Osbournes. A kooky, clown-like entertainer who also happens to sing.

[godofthunder]

   Hopefully he will do showcase gigs here and there, that certainly makes sense. I love Sabbath (Geezer) and early Blizzard with Daisley on bass. It just so happens I've joind a Sabbath/Ozzy tribute. Finally after two years I have gigs on the books.