Danish rock and rollers VOLBEAT opened their concert this past Tuesday (July 22) at Cascades Amphitheater in Ridgefield, Washington with a cover of BLACK SABBATH‘s “Children Of The Grave” in tribute to SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne, who died earlier that day. Video of the performance can be seen below.
Last month, VOLBEAT guitarist/vocalist Michael Poulsen was asked during an appearance on The Mistress Carrie Podcast what the music of heavy metal legends BLACK SABBATH has meant to him over the years. He responded: “Everything. Because BLACK SABBATH was the main reason why I started playing guitar. That was listening and discovering BLACK SABBATH. And it’s still that band that keeps inspiring, no matter what music I do for whatever band. They are eternal and they are the godfathers for a reason. [They have had] so many great albums, classic albums, and very interesting lineups as well. So they meant a lot to me and still do.”
In a December 2021 interview with “Whiplash”, the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, Poulsen credited BLACK SABBATH with inspiring some of the music on VOLBEAT‘s eighth studio album, “Servant Of The Mind”, which came out earlier that month via Republic Records.
“If you look at the more heavy side of the material, it’s obvious that’s a lot of old BLACK SABBATH inspiration — more from the [Ronnie James] Dio past and from the Tony Martin [era] of BLACK SABBATH,” he said. “I do love the Ozzy [Osbourne] material, but you can definitely hear the inspiration from the BLACK SABBATH Dio and Tony Martin era.”
Back in January 2020, Poulsen picked BLACK SABBATH‘s “Black Sabbath” a one of the 10 songs that changed his life. He explained to Kerrang! magazine: “My mom’s brother lived next door to us, so I went through his record collection and found an album with a sleeve that scared the crap out of me. It was a woman in a graveyard or something, and he told me I was way too young to listen to it. So when he was out, I snuck into his house and put the record on, and that was my introduction to BLACK SABBATH. That was the song that made me want to dig into that scene. Hearing that opening riff made me want my first guitar.”
VOLBEAT‘s ninth album, “God Of Angels Trust”, was released on June 6 via longtime label Vertigo/Universal.
Ozzy died Tuesday morning (July 22),his family announced in a statement.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” the family said.
No cause of death was given, but Osbourne had battled a number of health issues over the past several years, including Parkinson’s disease and injuries he sustained from a late-night fall in 2019.
Ozzy‘s death came a little more than two weeks after he took the stage for his final performance with BLACK SABBATH at Villa Park in the band’s original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom. They performed four songs for more than 40,000 people in the stadium and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Ozzy also played a five-song solo set while seated in a bat-adorned throne.
