Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins has spoken out about his love for Ozzy Osbourne, and said that it didn’t seem like he was “anywhere near the end of his life”.
Corgan was one of the many huge names from the rock and metal world that came together to join Osbourne last month as he played his final show, both with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist.
At the event, which was held in Ozzy’s hometown of Birmingham and raised “a ton” of money for charity, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman formed a supergroup with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar, Tool guitarist Adam Jones and Tom Morello. Together, they performed covers of Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking the Law’ and Black Sabbath’s ‘Snowblind’.
The heavy metal pioneer died just weeks after the one-off event. He was aged 76 and, in a statement, his family shared that he was “surrounded by love” at the time of his passing.
Now, Corgan has shared how it has been “a beautiful thing” to see “such an incredible outpouring of tributes” for the music icon, and share what it was like to join him at his farewell show.
During a recent appearance on the Klein.Ally.Show on the KROQ radio station, he said: “To be with them on that day, it was like a magical dream. And it’s been such a high.”
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“It was such an amazing event to be part of. It was the greatest musical event I think I’ve ever been a part of as sort of a one-day thing. It was so incredible,” he added. “Everyone was playing their hearts out because there was so much love for Ozzy and the band.”
When asked if it seemed like the singer’s health was struggling during the show, Corgan replied: “He was obviously not at 100 per cent, [but] I saw nothing in his spirit that told me that he was anywhere near the end of his life.
“Talking about it with the band, we were almost thinking that maybe this concert was the thing that kept him going. Maybe the idea that there was this rainbow at the end of this particular road, maybe that kept his spirits up,” he added.
“And I am not saying once it was over, he was over. I’m just saying maybe the concert actually elongated his life because he had something to fight for, something to strive for, and to see how much that show and those artists meant to him.”
Corgan then shared that he didn’t get to speak to Ozzy much on the day, but was planning to go over to his LA home to conduct an interview with him after the farewell show. Instead, his “special moment” with the heavy metal icon came earlier in the day, when he and one other person watched Sabbath do their soundcheck at the Birmingham gig.
“There was literally nobody in the stadium except security and me and this person from another famous alternative band,” he shared, not revealing who the other person was.
“We were literally watching Black Sabbath soundcheck with Ozzy for the last time. And Ozzy saw us down there and did the famous Ozzy peace sign to both of us down and smiled,” Corgan added. “That’s the moment I’ll always hold on to, because it was in that private moment where it was just us and the band. Both me and the other person, we both started crying because we couldn’t believe this magical dream of this band in our lives was coming to an end.”
After the ‘Back To The Beginning’ farewell show, Corgan reflected on his time at the gig and described it as both “beautiful and bittersweet”.
Ozzy’s bandmate Geezer Butler also looked back at the gig after hearing of Ozzy’s passing, and said in an essay for The Sunday Times that he was shocked to see how “frail” the singer had become in his final days.
With his latest interview, Corgan joins the countless names paying tribute to Ozzy, including Zak Starkey, Adam Sandler, Ghost’s Tobias Forge, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Yungblud, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jack White, Coldplay, Gojira and Jake E Lee. Touching messages have also been shared by his Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Birmingham to leave flowers and emotional tributes to the music icon in the days since, and thousands more lined the streets yesterday (July 31) for the funeral procession. Ozzy was laid to rest at a private ceremony in Buckinghamshire, which was attended by Elton John, members of Metallica and more.
There has also been a push from fans for both Birmingham Airport and a stage at Download Festival to be renamed after the late singer. A Change.org petition for the former got over 5,000 signees in less than two days, and currently stands at over 57,000 signatures.
To celebrate the life of the singer, King Charles’ army band also paid their respects by covering Black Sabbath’s classic track ‘Paranoid’.
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