According to blabbermouth.net, during their performance on August 1, Swedish progressive metal band Opeth paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne by performing cover of Black Sabbath’s “Solitude” at the Beyond The Gates festival in Bergen, Norway. “Solitude” was first released on Black Sabbath‘s 1971 album, Master Of Reality and later as the B-side to the single, “Children Of The Grave.”
Two days after Osbourne died, Opeth guitarist and vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt went on social media to write: “So that dreadful day finally came. John Michael Osbourne has left us, and it’s so incredibly hard to accept it. Even if I have braced myself for this inevitable fact since the 80s it just feels completely unreal. He was like an ancient oak tree to me. A listed tree that people would visit and marvel at.”
The artist adds: “Ozzy came into my life in the late 70s and early 80s (I can’t remember exactly, I admit) when I heard ‘Iron Man’ on a cassette player in Sörskogen/Huddinge/Stockholm. I was just a child and ‘that’ voice in the beginning scared the living daylights out of me. BLACK SABBATH was my introduction to heavy rock/metal and has remained a lifelong companion since. I’ve read some posts from other musicians and can only concur. If it wasn’t for Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH my interest in music (as a whole) wouldn’t have taken off as it did. I became obsessed with them, and I suppose I still am.”
Photo Credit: Mehreen Rizvi
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