Machine Head kicked off their European tour last night, just as the news broke that Ozzy Osbourne had died. The band came out on stage and immediately played Black Sabbath cuts “War Pigs” and “Children of the Grave!” The band is on tour supporting their release from earlier in the year, “Unatoned” via Nuclear Blast. Watch the clip and read the message from the band.

We found out that Ozzy had passed away from Sky news 20 minutes before we walked on stage to the opening night of our European tour. In a state of sadness and shock we made the decision to forgo our usual opening setlist. Following our intro of Ozzy’s “Diary of a Madman” (that we’ve opened every Machine Head show with for the last 30+ years) we started the show with two Black Sabbath songs. “War pigs” and “Children of the grave”, everyone sang, everyone knew tonight meant something, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house

There’s so much more to say about the power of the Ozzy’s songs, but for now, we’ll let his music do the talking

-Robb