California punk rockers THE OFFSPRING paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne by performing a cover of the legendary heavy metal singer’s classic song “Crazy Train” at their last two concerts: on July 22 at Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview in Syracuse, New York and again on July 23 at Budweiser Stage in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For the latter performance, they were joined by SUM 41 guitarist Dave Baksh.
Prior to launching into “Crazy Train” at the Syracuse show, THE OFFSPRING guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman told the crowd: ” One of the best things I ever heard Ozzy Osbourne say was he didn’t wanna come up with riffs that impressed guitar players. He wanted to come up with riffs that made the little kid next door want to pick up a guitar and play guitar. And Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH did that in spades. And we’re gonna do a little tribute to Ozzy right now.”
Ozzy died Tuesday morning (July 22),his family announced in a statement.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” the family said.
No cause of death was given, but Osbourne had battled a number of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson’s disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night fall in 2019.
Ozzy‘s death came a little more than two weeks after he took the stage for his final performance with BLACK SABBATH at Villa Park in the band’s original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom. They performed four songs for more than 40,000 people in the stadium and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne.
The legendary BLACK SABBATH frontman was diagnosed in 2003 with Parkin 2 — a very rare genetic form of Parkinson’s. During a TV appearance in January 2020, the singer disclosed that he was ‘stricken” with the disease which occurs when the nerve cells of the body degenerate and levels of dopamine are reduced. Dopamine is an essential chemical that is produced by these nerve cells which send signals to different parts of the brain to control movements of the body.
Ozzy‘s health issues, including suffering a nasty fall and dislodging metal rods placed in his spine following a quad-bike accident in 2003, as well as catching COVID-19 three years ago, forced him to cancel some of his previously announced tours.
Despite his health problems, Osbourne had performed a couple of times in the last three years, including at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August 2022 and at the NFL halftime show at the season opener Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills game in September 2022.
