Weeks before his death, Ozzy Osbourne performed for 42,000 fans in person and millions online as a final farewell to his half-century career.

The Prince of Darkness’ final thoughts about “Back to the Beginning” were shared in his upcoming memoir “Last Rites,” an excerpt from which was published by The Times.

Osbourne died of a heart attack on July 22 at the age of 76, not 20 days after “Back to the Beginning,” while the final chapter of “Last Rites” was written days after the concert, Louder Sound said.

Osbourne wrote, "Well … I made it. Back to England. Back to Birmingham. Back to the beginning, as my final gig was called. For a while I was convinced my last trip home would be in a pine [expletive] box."

He credited the event to his wife, Sharon, who first brought up the farewell concert in 2022. He didn’t think it would happen for several reasons.

“I didn’t think there was much chance of me making it to 2025. I was also like, no one will wanna do this, and no one’s gonna watch,” he shared.

Osbourne wrote about all of the health issues he had in the months before the concert: pneumonia, emphysema, back problems and Parkinson’s.

After surgery to repair his back, he developed sepsis and the antibiotics did not allow him to keep food down.

“Sharon didn’t tell me at the time, but the whole family basically thought I was a goner. They sat at the bottom of the stairs and sobbed their hearts out. As for me, I was like, OK, I’ve had a good run, it’s game over now,” he shared.

But all of the concerns about the concert disappeared on July 5, he said.

“Coming on stage all I could think was, is my voice really up for this? But as soon as the curtain went up I forgot about my nerves. Suddenly I was looking out over 42,000 faces, with another 5.8 million watching online. That was when the emotion really hit me. I’d never really taken it on board that so many people liked me — or even knew who I was. It was overwhelming, man, it really was."

It was one song that got to him, “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”

“I choked up when I started ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home.’ I mean, it’s Sharon’s song, y’know? One of her favourites. Lemmy [the late founder of Motörhead] wrote it with the two of us in mind. That alone was enough to bring tears to my eyes. But the feeling I had was about more than that. It was my last hurrah. I’d made it to the stage after six traumatic years, after losing the ability to walk or do anything on my own. It was just the whole thing, all of it coming together,” he wrote.

Click here to read the complete excerpt, published in The Times.

“Last Rites” will be released on Tuesday.

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