Rock Legend Reveals How He Paid Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne—And Will Continue To

Rob Halford revealed how he paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne following his death.

Nearly one month after the legendary Black Sabbath rocker died at age 76, the Judas Priest frontman appeared on the “Talking’ Rock With Meltdown” podcast and revealed that he had a show scheduled on July 23, the day after Osbourne died. Halford, 73, said he played a special song that night and dedicated it to Osbourne.

“We did the show, and we came to this song called ‘Giants in the Sky’ from the ‘Invincible Shield’ album. And that song talks about people that we love in music that have moved on to this beautiful place,” he said.

Halford noted that he referenced Osbourne and late rock legends Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, Paul Di’Anno, Jill Janus, Janis Joplin, and Freddie Mercury during the performance

“I said to everybody, this is so much to try and comprehend and so tough,” Halford recalled. “But Ozzy would say ‘Let’s party. Let’s rock and roll. Let’s live it up, let’s enjoy.’”

“That was in his heart, his soul and his spirit,” Halford added. “Whenever we did shows together, he would always say to me, ‘Did you have a good time?”

The show Halford played the day after Osbourne’s death was at the Scarborough Open Air Theatre in North Yorkshire, England, per NME.

Rob Halford Cried His Eyes Out After Ozzy Osbourne’s Death

Osbourne died suddenly on July 22, just two weeks after playing his final Black Sabbath show at the “Back to the Beginning” concert in Birmingham, England. Halford had been invited to the show, but had another engagement booked for the Scorpions’ 60th anniversary, so he missed it.

In the “Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown” interview, Halford recalled getting the call that Osbourne had died. “I just put the phone down in my hotel room, I was in England, Leeds. And I just curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it now. I’m still grieving like so many people.”

“How do you process all of this? All of this tragedy, all of this love? Because I’ve never seen so much, such an outpouring of love,” he added of the worldwide reaction to Osbourne’s death.

Judas Priest Continues to Play ‘War Pigs’ at Their Shows

While Judas Priest didn’t make it to “Back to the Beginning,” they paid tribute to Osbourne in another way and will continue to do so.

Three days before “Back to the Beginning,” the band posted a video to Instagram as they played the Black Sabbath classic “War Pigs” from the band’s 1970 album, ”Paranoid.”

“WE ARE HONORED TO SHOW OUR LOVE FOR OZZY AND BLACK SABBATH WITH OUR HOMAGE OF ‘WAR PIGS’ – A SONG WE PLAY AT EVERY SHOW AROUND THE WORLD THAT FANS SING ALONG TO – REINFORCING THEIR LOVE AS WELL FOR THE LEGENDARY PRINCE OF DARKNESS….!!” the band shared on July 2.

On the podcast, Halford added that he will keep Osbournes’s spirit alive by continuing to celebrate him. “We still play [‘War Pigs’] at the start of our show, which is one of the greatest metal songs ever written,” he said. “So that connection, we will never be severed in that respect.”