Just over two weeks ago, fans of Ozzy Osbourne convened in Birmingham for what was billed as his final performance. Now, those same devotees have returned to mourn the musician’s passing, creating makeshift shrines adorned with flowers, candles, pint glasses, and whisky bottles.
Messages left at the impromptu memorials throughout Birmingham underscore the profound and widespread impact of Ozzy Osbourne’s music and persona.
Some tributes expressed local pride (“Birmingham forever Ozzy – you rock!”), while others hailed from international admirers (“Gracias Ozzy!”; “Thank you for the music – from me and all your fans in Bulgaria.”).
Many messages conveyed personal stories of the deep connection fans felt with Osbourne’s work.
“You have touched millions, my whole life your music has played almost as if raising me,” one message read.
The Black Sabbath bench, featuring cut-out figures of the band members, became a focal point for mourners. Ozzy’s figure was adorned with a Sabbath hat and an Aston Villa FC scarf.
The bench itself was laden with flowers, interspersed with beer bottles, empty glasses, and a Jack Daniels bottle – a nod to Osbourne’s well-documented, hard-drinking past.
“It’s just amazing to see the big community come together and support everyone,” remarked Nate Baker, a 20-year-old fan from Redditch in Worcestershire.
Baker was wearing a commemorative Aston Villa shirt, sold to mark Ozzy and Sabbath’s recent concert at Villa Park.
That performance was promoted as their farewell show. Osbourne, who had been battling health issues, performed seated but appeared in high spirits, leaving fans unprepared for his death so soon after the event.
Pre-existing landmarks created to celebrate the farewell concert have been repurposed as memorial sites.
A row of floral tributes now lines a mural depicting the faces of the band members on a bridge near New Street station.
“To be honest, it hadn’t really sunk in when I heard the news last night, and I thought that coming here and seeing all the tributes and all the love being expressed would really start to make it feel real, and it has,” said Paul Williams, a fan from Stafford.
“It feels comforting to be part of the community here, where we’ve all come to the same place to express our grief and our love and our thankfulness for what he gave the world.”
Mr. Williams added his own artwork to the memorial, a portrait of Ozzy.
“I’m a comic artist, and so the way that came most naturally to me to express my thankfulness was to do a quick doodle before I came down on the train this morning. It’s not necessarily my best work, but I’m happy to see it there amongst all the flowers, being blown askew by the wind.”
Paul Allen, a classical musician from Walsall, was among those laying flowers. While his brother was a long-time Sabbath fan, Allen himself said he has only recently come to appreciate the band’s significance.
“I’m only just starting to grasp their place in musical history, and I have a lot of respect for that,” he said.
“They took their industrial background and heritage, and somehow managed to expose that in the music, along with a strange mixture of Lord of the Rings ideas and Dennis Wheatley witchcraft, devil worshipping, science-fictiony stuff.
“They had this melting pot of new ideas. They weren’t part of a hippy movement. They weren’t part of a prog rock thing. They just were doing their own thing.”
Elsewhere, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to Osbourne with a symphonic rendition of “Black Sabbath,” the band’s self-titled debut track, performed under the departure boards at New Street station.
An exhibition about Osbourne’s life at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which opened in conjunction with the farewell gig, has become another destination for fans to remember him.
A queue quickly formed for a book of condolence, overseen by a black-and-white photograph of Osbourne holding a cross, which the museum staff put up Wednesday morning.
“I just wrote, ‘Condolences to the family, and Ozzy’s making his way through the Hole in the Sky’,” said Steve Bennett, from Liverpool, referencing the title of a song from Sabbath’s 1975 album, “Sabotage.”
“I’ve got every one of their albums, and a lot of his solo stuff as well.”
Osbourne was “one of rock’s great frontmen, in a great band, who changed the way music was perceived,” he explained.
Tamara Jenna, 32, was another signatory to the book of condolence. “I said, ‘Rest in peace, Ozzy. You made Birmingham proud’.”
She added: “I heard the news last night and it’s such a sad loss to Birmingham. He did so much for the city and for heavy metal, and I think it’s definitely worth paying respects to what he’s done for the city, let alone the genre.”
The age range of visitors to the exhibition highlights Osbourne’s widespread appeal across generations.
Jonty Carter, a museum volunteer, witnessed the early days of Black Sabbath after being taken to see them at a local pub by members of his Boys’ Brigade.
“They sneaked me in the entrance, and Black Sabbath were on. So I saw them when I was 12, which is just unbelievable,” he recalled.
“And some of the music has just lived for me forever. I don’t think it’s ever going to be surpassed. It was game-changing at the time.”
Kelly Pearce visited the exhibition with her two children to pay their respects.
“He never changed – even when he went to America, he was still always a Brummie, which we love,” she said.
“What makes me laugh is that the way he speaks, with all these swear words, is so natural to normal Brummies. My father grew up in Aston as well, and he’s exactly the same.
“So to me, he could have just been one of your uncles. He was just so down to earth with no airs and graces. I just love him.
“It was lovely that he got his final wish as well – to come back to England and do his last gig here, which was just unforgettable.”
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