Geordie Greep Honors Ozzy Osbourne With Black Sabbath Medley In Birmingham

Geordie Greep led a medley of Black Sabbath songs last night during his concert in their hometown of Birmingham, England, honoring the legendary band’s frontman Ozzy Osbourne. Greep’s performance at XOYO followed news of The Prince Of Darkness’ death on Tuesday at age 76.

The former Black Midi frontman led his band through a sequencing of classic Black Sabbath songs in the same city that the metal icons formed in 1968. Osbourne and the original lineup of Black Sabbath – guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – played their final show together on July 5.

Shortly after news of Osbournes passing was shared by his family, Greep was on stage in Black Sabbath’s hometown at XOYO. The guitarist and his bandmates started their instrumental tribute to Ozzy with “Symptom of the Universe” from Sabbath’s 1975 album, Sabotage. The medley continued with “War Pigs” from 1970’s Paranoid, “N.I.B.” from their 1970 self-titled debut and the Paranoid title track.

The sequence continued with “Sweet Leaf” from 1971’s Masters Of Reality and ended with Ozzy’s 1980 debut solo single, “Crazy Train.” Greep returned to “Sweet Leaf” at the end of the show-closing “The Magician,” from his 2024 debut solo album The New Sound.

After the Ozzy tribute, Greep spoke to the Birmingham audience:

“Very cheesy to talk about this kind of thing, maybe. But it’s actually pretty crazy to come to Birmingham, where these four fucking guys – they made this music that really changed everything, and they came from this town. That’s really fucking crazy, really. Because it’s like worldwide, nothing’s sounded like that before or since …

“It’s kind of silly, really, but think about it: you go to a guitar shop, you get a guitar, you go to a rehearsal room when you’re 12 or something, and you play these songs and you feel you’re gonna have super powers. It’s like magic.

“And it was these fucking guys, just coming from this town, which is not exactly Beverly Hills … But oh well, rest in peace!”

Watch a couple of angles of Geordie Greep’s musical tribute to Ozzy below: