Ozzy Osbourne's Three Lubbock Concerts And What Made Them Memorable

If you are reading this on July 22, it is the one-year anniversary of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy died on July 22, 2025, at the age of 76.

I’m not going to lie—the world is a darker place without Ozzy.

During his final years, he brought a certain joy to everything he did. Some would say he always had that spark, but back in the day, it was more akin to watching a train that was about to go off the tracks.

We missed our first chance to see Ozzy, and I know this because I had a ticket.

It was supposed to be a Lubbock stop on Black Sabbath’s Never Say Die! tour in 1978, with a young Van Halen slated as the opener. The show was canceled shortly after being announced, and like a dumb-dumb with absolutely no foresight, I took that ticket back to the record store for a refund.

I would love to have that ticket now.

Ozzy Osbourne’s Three Lubbock Concerts

That canceled show leaves us with three actual Ozzy Osbourne solo performances in Lubbock.

The first was during the Diary of a Madman Tour on February 24, 1982. He returned for The Ultimate Sin Tour on October 12, 1986, and then played the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum again on May 1, 1996, during the Retirement Sucks Tour. That last one was especially notable because Type O Negative was one of the opening acts.

I’ll never forget that first Ozzy performance.

I remember the giant curtains slowly parting and Ozzy sitting sideways on a throne next to a giant metal cross. He looked like a maniac. He was also like one of those paintings where the eyes follow you wherever you go. It felt like he was somehow making eye contact with every single person in the audience.

Also memorable was the part of the show where an executioner hanged a little person Ozzy had named “Ronnie,” a not-so-subtle shot at Ronnie James Dio, the singer who replaced him in Black Sabbath. “Ronnie the Dwarf” was a recurring character in Ozzy’s stage show during that era.

It was an exceptional show and one of those increasingly rare nights where I still have a crystal-clear mental picture of what I saw.

There was also a bit of justice for all of us Black Sabbath fans. Ozzy closed the show with “Iron Man,” “Children of the Grave” and “Paranoid.”

Thanks for the memories, Ozzy.

The world was louder, stranger and a hell of a lot more fun with you in it.

***Bonus***

While I can't find video of the Lubbock performance, here's a video shot in Albuquerque a month earlier: