Ozzy Osbourne

“Sobriety fucking sucks,” Ozzy Osbourne told documentary filmmaker Penelope Spheeris in 1988. Old, decrepit and sober since 1991, Osbourne has lost little of his music-making talent — even if the balls-to-the-wall persona of the dove-eating, bat-head-biting former Sabbath frontman is a little softer around the edges. Touring with Black Label Society, Osbourne and wicked guitarist and friend Zakk Wylde amp up the eerie lyrics and tragic harmonies that first broke open the world of heavy metal in the 1970s. Frequently covering a few of his favorite rock tunes — including “In My Life,” “For What It’s Worth,” and “Sympathy For The Devil” — Osbourne injects a little bit of new material into frenetic shows centered on the gory, glorious greats, such as “Paranoid” and “Diary of a Madman.” Sober or not (one can hardly tell anyway), Osbourne’s wild niche in the annals of rock history is solid — and his live sets continue to cement it.