Zakk Wylde, who long played guitar in Ozzy Osbourne‘s solo band, has shared the final text message he received from the late metal legend.
Wylde tells Guitar World that he received the text following the Back to the Beginning concert on July 5, which was announced ahead of time as the final live performance by both Ozzy and the original Black Sabbath lineup. In addition to playing during Ozzy’s solo set, Wylde performed at Back to the Beginning with Pantera.
“Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room and I just wanted to give [Ozzy] a break,” Wylde recalls of the scene right after Back to the Beginning concluded. “I figured we’d see him later on – the next day or whatever. But no.”
Ozzy died just over two weeks later, on July 22.
“The last text I got from Oz was saying, ‘Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn’t see you,'” Wylde says. “He goes, ‘Thanks for everything.’ It was just us talking, saying, ‘I love you, buddy.’ That was it.”
Pantera has since canceled and postponed tour dates so that the band can take “time and space to grieve” Ozzy’s loss.
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