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Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Seeing Ozzy surrounded by generations he had inspired 'was a life-changing experience'
Few people in the music world can legitimately lay claim to being an icon, and fewer still can remain at the top of their game for the better part of five decades — or to have pioneered a whole new genre. With Ozzy Osbourne's passing, only the three surviving founding members of Black Sabbath can now say that. Pick a heavy metal band, and they'll ultimately be inspired by Black Sabbath. But it stretched way beyond that into all sorts of genres. Even one of the bands that got me seriously into rock and punk, Green Day, played Ozzy's song Crazy Train at their first ever jam session. The fact that people as diverse as Dolly Parton and Elton John sent video messages to be screened at his final concert testifies to the tremendous goodwill Ozzy built up over decades, and nations, and genres, regardless of his personal troubles. Making it to Villa Park at the start of the month for his (and Sabbath's) farewell show was one of those things that's going to stay with me. He could have played it anywhere, but instead, matching the theme of 'Back to the Beginning', he played at his soccer team's grounds within walking distance of the house he'd grown up in. In ages, it stretched from his peers to kids young enough to be his grandchildren, and somewhere in the middle were people like me, who find their greatest expressions through listening to, well, everything (but death metal in moderation, please). The show at Villa Park was almost a blink and you'll miss it experience, but running the gamut from rock and roll to thrash metal to progressive metal, there wasn't a band or musician from across the metal world who didn't show an obvious debt to him or his Sabbath comrades. From left: Geezer Butler, Tommy Iommi, and Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath with their Album of the Year award for '13', Event of the Year, and Living Legend award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour at The Roundhouse, Camden, London. Picture: Ian West/PA It had everything from old Ozzy comrades on stage (Jake E Lee), to Tool performing on camera for the first time, to Jason Momoa joining the moshpit during Pantera's set. Not just a celebration of music and legacy, but of life itself. With each band performing at least one Black Sabbath song (Guns 'N' Roses did four) or one of his solo tracks, it was a reminder that no matter what the background, their work could just slip right in. For me, some three decades as a metalhead (and proud of it), I had almost given up on the chance of seeing him live. I knew his songs long before I'd given any serious time to Black Sabbath. Listening back at them now, it's amazing to think of the breadth of his solo career — even if he nearly destroyed it several times due to chronic substance problems I was supposed to see him a lifetime ago during Ozzfest when it came to Punchestown, though he was sick on the day and couldn't perform (still, Tool took the headline slot in one of the best concerts I've ever seen). This would have been at the height of The Osbournes TV series, where he ended up slightly reinvented, and more beloved, as the more befuddled dad than prince of darkness. To see him in the flesh, and surrounded by the generations of musicians he had in some way inspired (and I'm a fan of many, from Slayer to Ghost), was a life-changing experience. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne on stage at the Olympic Torch concert in The Mall, London, England. Picture: Myung Jung Kim/PA I'm glad he got to say goodbye on his own terms, and I'm glad the 45,000 people at Villa Park, including my 20-year-old nephew ('I feel like I've just seen my god in the flesh'), and the millions of people who livestreamed it got to see him on stage one last time. 'I've pretty much been laid up for the last six years,' he told us during a five-song set of his solo work before a four-song reunion with Black Sabbath. Even robbed of his ability to walk by Parkinson's, which had also affected his vocal range (but not his power), he still showed hallmarks of classic Ozzy, grimacing and flashing horns at the crowd before leading them to wave along to his music. One of the biggest cheers went up when he tried to raise himself up out his chair, like all his instincts were telling him. Plenty of otherwise stoic folks got a bit misty around the eyes during his ballad, Mama I'm Coming Home There was something about it, something about the emotion on his face and the catch in his voice that meant everybody in the stadium had an inkling, watching him, that we were in his latter days, even if we all half expected him to defy the odds and go on forever. Even with the final strains of the Sabbath classic Paranoid ringing to bring the curtain down on an epic career the likes of which we'll never see again, we all hoped that maybe, just maybe, he had one more song in him, or one more project. Alas, he has not. The Crazy Train may have left the station one last time, but having raised nearly $200m for charity with that final concert, it left with one of the finest legacies in rock. Would that we could all go out on a high like that. David O'Mahony is the assistant editor at the Irish Examiner and resident office metalhead Read More Ozzy Osbourne's most shocking moments
UPI
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne dies at 76
1 of 3 | Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo July 22 (UPI) -- Heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne has died just weeks after playing his farewell show with Black Sabbath, his family confirmed. He was 76. "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," Osbourne's family confirmed in statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time." Osbourne, who had Parkinson's disease, played his final show earlier this month in Birmingham, England, with Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, as well as special guests including Metallica, Guns n' Roses and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Mercury Studios announced a film of the concert, titled Back to the Beginning: Ozzy's Final Bow, will have a movie theater run beginning in 2026. Osbourne, nicknamed "The Prince of Darkness," was born John Michael Osbourne on Dec. 3, 1948, in Birmingham. He played in multiple bands with Butler, a bassist and lyricist, before they became founding members of Black Sabbath in 1969. The singer, who struggled with addiction, was fired from Black Sabbath in April 1979, but maintained a successful solo career in the ensuing decades. He reunited with the band in 2011, and served as vocalist for the album 13 in 2013. In 2002, Osbourne, his wife, Sharon, and their kids, Kelly and Jack, became household names when MTV reality series The Osbournes chronicled their day-to-day lives. The show aired until 2005. Black Sabbath played a final show on July 5, with Osbourne seated throughout the performance. The band performed hits from across Osbourne's career, including "Crazy Train," "Iron Man" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home." Osbourne is survived by Sharon, Kelly and Jack, as well as his children Louis John, Elliot Kingsley and Jessica Starshine from his first marriage to Thelma Riley. Notable deaths of 2025 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzy Osbourne arrives for the Tribeca Film Festival Premiere of "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" at the BMCC Tribeca PAC in New York on April 24, 2011. The legendary singer and media personality died at age 76 on July 22, 2025. Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI | Ozzy Osbourne arrives for the Tribeca Film Festival Premiere of "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" at the BMCC Tribeca PAC in New York on April 24, 2011. The legendary singer and media personality died at age 76 on July 22, 2025. Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI | License Photo
The Hindu
3 days ago
- The Hindu
What has preliminary crash report uncovered?
The story so far: Leaks in the western media with specific details about technical aspects and 'human intervention' relating to the crash of Air India flight AI 171 have led to a written appeal by the Director-General of India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, to await the publication of the final investigation report. The leaks came days before the release of the AAIB's preliminary report on July 12, a month after the air accident at Ahmedabad on June 12. What else has the AAIB's appeal said? What are the other reactions? The letter, dated July 17 and signed by G.V.G. Yugandhar, Director-General, AAIB, said that the AAIB works in accordance with the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules 2017, and is responsible for fulfilling the obligations of the Government of India towards the International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 13. It highlighted 'its flawless record in the investigation of 92 accidents and 111 serious incidents since its inception in 2012'. The statement drew attention to certain sections of the international media repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting and called such actions irresponsible. It added that the AAIB's investigation and preliminary report are to provide information about 'what' happened, and that the final report would come out with root causes and recommendations. It added that the AAIB would publish updates as and when required, which have technical and public interest. On July 18, in a statement on X, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairwoman Jennifer L. Homendy said that 'recent media reports on the Air India 171 crash are premature and speculative...', ending with 'investigations of this magnitude take time. We fully support the AAIB's public appeal....' Days before the AAIB released a 15-page preliminary report, aviation news service The Air Current had a report on July 8. It said 'Air India crash investigation focuses on movement of engine fuel control switches' with a blurb that 'data from the Dreamliner's black box points investigators towards improper, inadvertent or intentional pilot actions'. On July 10, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had a report, 'Air India probe Puts Early Focus on Pilots' Actions and Plane's Fuel Switches'. Again, on July 17, theWSJ had an exclusive report titled 'New Details in Air India Crash Probe Shift Focus to Senior Pilot'. On July 18, an Italian daily, the Corriere della Sera (founded in 1876), published a report which claimed it had more details from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). The reports in the western media have led to a pushback by Indian pilot bodies. A media report has said that the Federation of Indian Pilots would 'pursue all legal remedies available for defamation, mental anguish and reputational harm'. The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations also cautioned against hasty conclusions published by the media and social media based on the preliminary report. What has the preliminary report said? The report has focused on the 'engine 1 and engine 2 fuel cutoff switches having transitioned from Run to Cutoff position, one after another with a time gap of one second', resulting in the fuel supply cutting off. There is also one sentence which says that in the 'cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.' The report has a picture of the aircraft with its Ram Air Turbine — which is at the heart of an aircraft's emergency power system — having deployed during the initial climb. The engine 1 fuel cutoff switch then transitioned from Cutoff to Run about 10 seconds after the cutoff, leading to a thrust recovery. Four seconds later, a similar transitioning for the engine 2 fuel switch led to the full authority digital engine control of each engine automatically managing a relight and thrust recovery sequence. One of the pilots then transmitted a Mayday call. The report has said that it has no recommended actions concerning the aircraft type, the engine (GE's GEnx-1B70/P2), and the manufacturers — this has drawn criticism from pilot bodies for ignoring 'systemic vulnerabilities'. The report's lack of a full and raw CVR transcript with timestamps is what has drawn the most criticism. The heart of the mystery now lies in the actions around the manual fuel selector switches. Captain Matthew Buckley, a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot and a former first officer at FedEx and American Airlines, has told The Hindu that the Boeing 787 is a data-linked, highly networked aircraft, with its critical flight systems — especially fuel management — digitally and physically isolated. Even though the aircraft uses Ethernet-style backbone systems for many avionics functions, the fuel selector switches themselves are mechanical-electrical hybrids that cannot be remotely accessed or altered from outside. He adds that had there been any software anomaly, Boeing and the engine manufacturer would have detected it through Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems. These systems record and transmit real-time diagnostics, he said. He said that the Boeing 787 has centralised electronic systems and data streaming to ground systems in real time. If there was an engine-related issue, either mechanical or systems-based, the engine manufacturer would know instantly, as diagnostic updates would be sent during flight. What are the safety checks being done by airlines? Last month, on June 13, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed Air India to carry out additional safety inspections on its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 fleet. Professor Guy Gratton, Associate Professor of Aviation and the Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Cranfield University, U.K., has told The Hindu that these imply enhanced checks of the electrical, hydraulic and/or propulsion systems. The DGCA has also issued a directive (with inspection reports by July 21, 2025) to check the locking mechanism of the fuel control switches on the Boeing 737 and 787. A number of airlines have carried out precautionary checks of the fuel selector switches in their Boeing 787 fleets. They include Singapore Airlines and Scoot (Singapore), Qantas (Australia), Etihad (UAE), Korean and Japan. This also flows from an advisory by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018 of the 'potential for disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature' on several Boeing aircraft families. Separately, Indian pilot bodies have urged extensive checks of the 787's engine control systems. How many 787s are there in the world? In an email reply to The Hindu, Boeing has said that the global Boeing 787 fleet comprises over 1,175 aircraft, having operated nearly five million flights and logged more than 30 million flight hours. Can there be a better investigation? In an interview with Singapore's media on July 16, while commenting on the AAIB's preliminary report, International Air Transport Association chief Willie Walsh said that there is a strong argument to be made for video recorders to be installed in aircraft flight decks to help accident investigators. This revives an almost 25-year-old debate on the issue between the NTSB and the FAA. The final line is that there needs to be a fair and transparent investigation with irrefutable findings. And this could take time.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Parry makes first hole-in-one at this year's British Open
The British Open at Royal Portrush has had its first hole-in-one. English golfer John Parry's tee shot at the 192-yard No. 13 landed at the front of the green, took a couple of bounces, and hopped straight into the cup. There were big celebrations on the tee, with Parry congratulated by playing partner Justin Leonard, the 1997 Open champion. The hole-in-one took Parry to 4-under par for his round and 3 under for the tournament. The 38-year-old Parry is making his second appearance at a British Open, after St. Andrews in 2022. Related Topics John Parry
3 days ago
- Sport
Parry makes first hole-in-one at this year's British Open
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- The British Open at Royal Portrush has had its first hole-in-one. English golfer John Parry's tee shot at the 192-yard No. 13 landed at the front of the green, took a couple of bounces and hopped straight into the cup. There were big celebrations on the tee, with Parry congratulated by playing partner Justin Leonard, the 1997 Open champion. The hole-in-one took Parry to 4-under par for his round and 3 under for the tournament. The 38-year-old Parry is making his second appearance at a British Open, after St. Andrews in 2022.
