Daniel Bukszpan, who wrote a biography about Ozzy Osbourne in 2023, couldn’t bring himself to watch the rocker’s farewell concert that took place less than three weeks before his death.
“I couldn’t watch it. I mean, Ozzy was so frail and just so obviously suffering,” the “Ozzy At 75 : The Unofficial Illustrated History” author exclusively told The Post.
“I really had a hard time with it,” Bukszpan admitted. “I feel like it’s something I still have to confront.”
On July 5, Osbourne reunited with his former Black Sabbath bandmates for their “Back to the Beginning” concert at Villa Park in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England.
The Prince of Darkness, who was battling Parkinson’s, performed for the 42,000-person crowd in what turned out to be the final concert of his life.
“At the time I sort of felt like, oh, they’re making this poor man go on stage when clearly he’s not up to it, and how can they do that to him?” Bukszpan told The Post. “But that was before he died. Now that he died, and especially since he died so soon after, it’s like, no, that was exactly the point.”
“That was what he wanted,” the author continued. “He wanted basically a big Irish wake. That’s what that was. But it was before he was dead. So I did not recognize it as a big Irish wake until he passed. And then it was like, oh, okay, all right.”
Bukszpan also pointed out that Osbourne was deteriorating from other issues, including a severe spinal injury, before his death.
“He was in a lot of physical pain for that last part of his life,” Bukszpan said. “And I’m certainly glad he’s not dealing with that anymore. He was in chronic pain for about the last 20 years of his life. He had pain throughout his entire body for 20 years and he still was like, ‘But when can I go back on stage?’”
“I really respect that. He knew what he needed to do and he knew what he wanted to do. And he did it for as long as he possibly could.”
Bukszpan noted that while the “Crazy Train” singer “was ailing for a long time,” he “didn’t want pity” from fans or for the public “to think of him as this frail old man.”
The author also said that Osbourne always owned up to his mistakes, including in his marriage to wife Sharon Osbourne and in his career.
“He took responsibility for the things he did. I never saw him blame anyone for anything,” Bukszpan told The Post. “When he was fired from Black Sabbath… there are a lot of musicians who, when they leave their original bands, make this whole career out of talking about how much that band sucked. He never did that. He copped to pretty much everything.”
In hindsight, he’s “not surprised” Osbourne passed so quickly after his final concert.
“I think he really just took his whole job, all of it, very seriously,” Bukszpan said. “He had a real work ethic about my job is to show up for people, give them a good time, and at my concerts they’ll forget their troubles for two hours. I think he had an absolute diehard, utter commitment to that for his entire life. And that was how he lived.”
