System Of A Down have honoured the late, great Ozzy Osbourne with their first performance of ‘Snowblind’ in over 20 years – check it out below.
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The heavy metal pioneer and Black Sabbath frontman died last month (July 22) at age 76. In a statement, his family shared that he was “surrounded by love” at the time of his passing. His death came just weeks after he played a final live show with Black Sabbath in his hometown of Birmingham, and raised “a ton” of money for charity along the way.
For their first live show since May, System Of A Down performed at the massive MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and took a moment to pay homage to Osbourne. 20 songs into their set, Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian and co. performed their cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Snowblind’ for the first time in 23 years in Ozzy’s memory.
Malakian said before the performance: “The Ozzfest. We did a few Ozzfests, some of you are old enough that you were there. Some of you weren’t even born yet. I want to thank Ozzy Osbourne. We want to thank Ozzy Osbourne.”
Chants for Ozzy rang out in the stadium before Malakian added: “Keep it going! We’re going to do a number now, it’s about cocaine. It’s called ‘Snowblind’”. Watch System Of A Down perform ‘Snowblind’ below.
The band recorded their take on the Black Sabbath classic as part of the soundtrack for The Osbournes in 2001. Their last performance of the cover took place in 2002.
After Osbourne’s passing, thousands of fans took to the streets of Birmingham to leave flowers and emotional tributes to the Black Sabbath icon, and thousands more lined the streets on July 31 for the funeral procession. Ozzy was laid to rest at a private ceremony in Buckinghamshire, which was attended by Elton John, members of Metallica and more.
Countless names have come forward to pay tribute to Ozzy, including Zak Starkey, Adam Sandler, Ghost’s Tobias Forge, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Yungblud, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jack White, Coldplay, and Jake E Lee. Touching messages have also been shared by his Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler.
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford also recently revealed his reaction to the news, admitting that he “just curled up in a ball and bawled my eyes out for hours. I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it now. I’m still grieving, like so many people.”
Ozzy’s death certificate lists his cause of death as a heart attack, while also mentioning that he was suffering from coronary heart disease and Parkinson’s. It also listed his occupation as “Songwriter, Performer and Rock Legend”.
In other news, Tankian has announced a new album titled ‘Covers, Collaborations & Collages’. Due for release on October 24, the record will consist of previously unreleased cover songs, collaborations, and other tracks. You can pre-order/pre-save it here.
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