Billy Corgan recalls special moment with Ozzy and Sabbath during final show

The Smashing Pumpkins vocalist and guitarist Billy Corgan was part of “Back to The Beginning”, Black Sabbath‘s and Ozzy’s farewell show which happened last July in Birmingham, England. He fronted a supergroup and sang the classics “Breaking the Law” (Judas Priest) and “Snowblind” (Black Sabbath).

In an interview with KROQ radio station, he shared a special moment he had with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath during the soundcheck for that show.

Billy Corgan recalls special moment with Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath during final show

“I’d like to share one special moment though. I don’t wanna say who the other person is — it’s somebody from a very famous alternative band. But when Black Sabbath soundchecked two nights before the actual concert, there was literally nobody in the stadium except security and me and this person from another famous alternative band.”

“We were literally watching Black Sabbath soundcheck with Ozzy for the last time. Ozzy saw us down there and did the famous Ozzy — (he was) sitting in his chair, but he did the famous Ozzy peace sign to both of us down and smiled. And 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, basically. And both me and the other person — this is why I don’t wanna say who the person is — we both started crying because we couldn’t believe this magical dream of this band in our lives was coming to an end,” Billy Corgan said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth).

During the same conversation, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman said he had no idea Ozzy was only a few weeks away from passing.  “I was around him, and obviously people were paying a lot of attention to the shape he was in. He was obviously not at a hundred percent. But if anybody’s seen those group photos where it was, like, me and Metallica and so many of the artists playing, we were in this group photo, and the photographer was Ross Halfin, a very famous rock photographer, and we’ve all shot with Ross for years.”

He continued:

“And he’s been shooting Ozzy for 45 years. And Ozzy was cussing him out, just like you would hear in an episode of [Ozzy reality TV show] ‘The Osbournes’. So I saw nothing in his spirit that told me that he was anywhere near the end of his life. And 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. 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. I mean, we all watch through our phone these days, but I was there, I was watching everybody turn into a little kid again because for a hard rock,” Billy Corgan said.

Osbourne died last July 22 at the age of 76 after years dealing with Parkinson’s disease and other health issues.