Black Sabbath co-founder Tony Iommi says he can’t believe the timing of Ozzy Osbourne’s death, just weeks after the singer’s farewell show in their hometown of Birmingham, England. Iommi told ITV he received a message from Ozzy on Monday; the singer died Tuesday. He says it took him nearly all day to accept the news. “It was a shock for us,” Iommi said. “When I heard … it couldn’t sink in. I thought, ‘It can’t be.’ I only had a text from him the day before. …It just seems unreal, surreal. In the night, I started thinking about it: ‘God, am I dreaming all this?'” Iommi added that while the ‘Back to the Beginning’ farewell show was a triumph, Ozzy had “not looked well” behind the scenes. “I think he really just held out to do that show,” he continued. “And just after that, he’s done it and said goodbye to the fans. And that was the end of it, really. “I think he must have had something in his head that said, ‘Well, this is gonna be it, the last thing I’m ever gonna do.’ Whether he thought he was gonna die of what, I don’t know. But he really wanted to do it; he was determined to do it. And fair dues, he’d done it

Tony Iommi still can’t believe it.

Just weeks after Black Sabbath’s triumphant hometown farewell show in Birmingham — a night that felt like a full-circle moment for the band that defined heavy metal — Ozzy Osbourne is gone. The news came like a thunderclap. Iommi says he got a text from Ozzy the day before his death. Then, on Tuesday, everything changed.

“It was a shock for us,” Iommi told ITV. “When I heard … it couldn’t sink in. I thought, ‘It can’t be.’ I only had a text from him the day before.” His voice cracked as he described the disbelief that followed. “In the night, I started thinking about it: ‘God, am I dreaming all this?'”

The timing is almost too perfect — or too cruel. The “Back to the Beginning” show had been billed as a final sendoff, but no one imagined it would be Ozzy’s last appearance, ever. The Prince of Darkness, frail but still defiant, gave the crowd everything he had. Behind the scenes, Iommi says, it was clear Ozzy wasn’t well. “I think he really just held out to do that show,” he said. “And just after that, he’s done it and said goodbye to the fans. And that was the end of it, really.”

That line hits like a hammer: *he held out to do that show*. It paints Ozzy not just as a legend, but as a man who used the last of his strength to give fans closure — a final bow in the city where it all began.

For Iommi, and for millions of fans, it doesn’t feel real yet. But maybe that’s how Ozzy would’ve wanted it: loud, emotional, unforgettable — and totally, absolutely,

*his way*.