Ozzy Osbourne opened up about his last concert ever in a new BBC documentary that was filmed shortly before his July death at age 76.
In Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, which premiered Thursday, October 2, on BBC One, the late Black Sabbath frontman opened up about his move back to his native England and the plans for his final performance.
“My intention from the beginning was to go back to England,” he explained. “I’m not a f***ing American. I never wanted to be an American.”
The film followed Ozzy and his wife, Sharon Osbourne, as they prepared to move to Birmingham, England, from Los Angeles in advance of his Back to the Beginning concert, which took place in July.
“I always, always told Ozzy, ‘When you turn 70, we say goodbye. It’s enough,’” Sharon, 72, told the camera.
While Ozzy was in a great deal of physical pain when he and Sharon made the move in May, he said he was thrilled to have returned to his hometown.
“I feel like I’m finally home,” he said. “This is my home.”
The rest of the documentary focused on Ozzy as he prepared for his final concert, which took place just two weeks before he died.
“I haven’t sung on stage for over six years,” the rocker said. “I’ll probably be very emotional, because it’s my last hot hell ride.”
Ozzy, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003, faced numerous health changes before he died of a heart attack earlier this year. After he broke his neck in a 2019 fall, he underwent surgery that left him worse off when the screws and metal plates placed in his body began to come loose. Another surgery in 2021 aimed to correct that botched operation, but he still felt tons of pain and was left unable to perform as he once was.
In the new documentary, Ozzy explained that having to give up touring was one of the hardest things about his health issues.
“When I feel the crowd, it’s like a divine experience,” he said. “There’s no sex, drugs or anything that comes anywhere near it. You feel [like] king of the f***ing planet for that one minute.”
While the final show went off without a hitch, Ozzy admitted in the film that there was one thing he didn’t like about it.
“I had to sit there instead of running across the stage. That was f***ing torture,” he said. “It was very humbling to sit in that chair for nine songs.”
Later in the film, Ozzy and Sharon discussed their plans for his retirement, which was ultimately cut short by his death.
“It’s our last chapter. This is it, this is our time,” Sharon said. “However long it is, it’s our time. My life without him just isn’t my life. It’s not what I was meant to be. We’re like glue.”
Ozzy, meanwhile, said he’d have liked to plant a vegetable garden if his legs worked better.
“Grow some weed, perhaps,” he quipped as Sharon laughed.
“Time goes by like a flash. But I’ve had a lot of fun,” Ozzy concluded in a confessional interview. “I’ve had a lot of blood, sweat and tears, you know. It’s been a great life. If I had to live my life again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home was originally scheduled to air on August 18, but the BBC decided to push back the premiere after Ozzy’s death.
“Our sympathies are with the Osbourne family at this difficult time,” the BBC told Us Weekly in a statement at the time. “We are respecting the family’s wishes to wait a bit longer before airing this very special film.”
The film was originally conceived as a docuseries, but after Ozzy’s death, the network retooled it as a one-off special.
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