Johnny Depp paid tribute to late metal icon Ozzy Osbourne when appearing at Alice Cooper’s most recent concert at the O2 Arena in London on July 25th.
News of the Black Sabbath frontman’s death was announced on July 22nd, 2025, after his long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. However, his cause of death has not been confirmed. Earlier this month, Osbourne played his final concert, titled Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park in Birmingham, which saw him reunite with the original Black Sabbath line-up for the first time in more than 20 years.
Now, on July 5th, the night was winding down at the Cooper show, Depp appeared onstage with a guitar to tear through a selection of songs. Before joining in on guitar for a medley of Cooper’s ‘School’s Out’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, the band paid tribute to beloved heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne by covering the Black Sabbath favourite ‘Paranoid’.
Cooper has been friends with Depp for many years and had even formed the supergroup with him in the 2010s, dubbed the Hollywood Vampires. Named after the infamous drinking club that Cooper used to belong to with Keith Moon and John Lennon back in the 1970s, the band has been known to work through old classic rock favourites.
The shock rock legend also paid his respects to the fellow heavy metal icon during an earlier performance in Cardiff, only hours after Osbourne’s death was announced. When bringing the night to a close with the Wayne’s World staple ‘Feed My Frankenstein’, Cooper said that he wanted to take time out of the concert to “say goodnight to Ozzy”, which was followed by chants from the crowd.
Cooper also paid his respects on social media, saying in a separate statement, “The whole world is morning Ozzy tonight. Over his long career, he earned immense respect among his peers and from fans around the world as an unmatched showman and cultural icon. I always saw Ozzy as a cross between the prince of darkness, which is the persona his fans saw, and the court jester.”
Osbourne was also known to be an admirer of Depp’s work for a while. When writing his memoir I Am Ozzy, ‘The Prince of Darkness’ talked about the prospect of Depp playing him should anyone make a biopic of his life. However, he later changed his mind, saying that he would be instead looking for an unknown actor for the role.
Depp’s performance with Cooper is one in a long line of hard rockers paying their respects. Outside of legends like Jimmy Page and Elton John offering their sympathies online, everyone from David Lee Roth to Def Leppard to Oasis have paid their respects to the man who helped found heavy metal.
Johnny Depp showing up at Alice Cooper’s shoot in London? What a legendary surprise! Rock and soul in one frame 🔥🎸🖤 https://t.co/NAikg93aaV pic.twitter.com/lJK8ht3tYp
— ReemDepp – Johnny Depp is A Legend 🦇 (@ReemDepp) July 25, 2025
At Alice Cooper and Judas Priest. Alice played Paranoid in tribute to Ozzy and Johnny Depp came out to do the solo along with the original Alice cooper band pic.twitter.com/4DwPrM4jkI
— CarterNixon (@CarterNixon) July 25, 2025
Johnny Depp and the OG Alice Cooper band onstage for the finale 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/JoYqJ2zlDe
— Niall Kersey (@Niallkersey) July 25, 2025
