Mere weeks after announcing his retirement from the stage, legendary Heavy Metal Madman Ozzy Osbourne seems to have backtracked. In a recent interview, he said that he's grown so frustrated with being unable to perform onstage because of his numerous ailments (Ozzy suffers from Parkinson's disease and has also recently suffered a fall which has left him incapacitated) that he's considering resuming touring, even if he has to perform in a wheelchair.
Anyone who's seen Ozzy live in the past twenty, hell even thirty years knows that he was not the most mobile fellow anyway, but this will take things to a new level. Ozzy is a beloved character in Metal and Rock fandom, and there is tremendous good will toward him and I'm sure the public would support him 100%. But is this really how we want to see him go out? He's been cutting a pretty pathetic figure lately, and bringing that on stage might not be the best idea. Do we want to see an old, crippled Ozzy, in a wheelchair with tremors, instead of the crazy, dangerous, fun rock star we used to know?
Ozzy wouldn't be the first frontman to tour on a wheelchair. In recent years, Dave Grohl went on tour with Foo Fighters having having broken his leg by falling on stage. Soon afterwards, Axl Rose fronted AC/DC from the same wheelchair, donated by Grohl, after breaking his foot. Phil Collins famously wrapped his career with Genesis by singing from a chair, unable to drum. And Napalm Death is currently on tour with their lead singer Barney having to growl from a chair because of a sprained ankle.
Still, it will be sad seeing a diminished, tremoring Ozzy, slurring his words in the wrong key... Because vocally, Ozzy hasn't been cutting for decades. But part of the reason why the audience tolerated his vocal mediocrity was his goofy on-stage demeanor, and now he won't even have that.
It's important to note that this was just something he threw in an interview, and this was maybe just a off the cuff musing or one of Ozzy's famous mumbled ramblings. This was also first reported by the Sun, and English shit rag which doesn't exactly have an impeccable track record when it comes to journalistic integrity. As far as we know, there are no plans for him to resume touring as of yet, but I wouldn't put it past Sharon to do a Weekend At Ozzy's style tour. If this is what he wants, and the audience wants to see it, why not?
This happens to all our heroes. They get old, and so do we. So far, old geezers like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger or Roger Daltrey have managed to keep their rock star stature on stage, as well as a semblance of dignity. But for them, like Ozzy, the end is nigh.
