Ozzy Osbourne 'knew' Villa Park was his final goodbye as pal shares last moments

Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne “knew” that his Villa Park performance was his last final farewell in public.

Close friend and musical director of Back To The Beginning Tom Morello admitted he feels the Brummie superstar was aware that his days were numbered.

The show at Villa Park was less than three weeks before he passed away. But Morello added that even though Oz was “frail”, it was a “tragic surprise” that he died so soon after his last performance.

Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave star Morello even had a private moment to say goodbye after the "legendary" gig.

Speaking on US station Q101, Morello admitted: “It is a tragedy. Ozzy Osbourne has lived a pretty on-the-edge for such a long time and the fact he lived as long as he did was a miracle,

"The fact he lived to play and feel that love one more time, to do Paranoid, to do Crazy Train... If you have got to go - and I wish Ozzy lived another 30 years - if you've got to go out... it felt like he knew.”

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Ozzy took time to express his thanks to Morello, who worked with him and Sharon for almost two years on the Black Sabbath reunion.

"He came to the after party. I was actually playing pinball with my son Roman and somebody's tapping me on the shoulder so I'm like, 'Get off me! I am having a good game' It was Jack Osbourne like, 'Ozzy wants to say hi!’. I got to thank him, tell him I love him and kiss his head.

"He is one of the all-time greats and it was quite a day.”

Asked whether he was suppressed by the death, Morello responded: "He has been frail for a while. But friends of mine saw him a week later at another event in Birmingham. He wasn't on his death bed. He was just sort of living his life. It was a terrible and tragic surprise.

"Rather than dwelling on that I'd like to dwell on the amazing and groundbreaking career that he and Sabbath had.”

Morello revealed that the concept of a Sabbath finale was important to get right with many stars missing out on an appearance.

"When I was approached by Sharon and Ozzy I was like 'if we are going to do this thing it has got to be the greatest day in the history of heavy metal. If we do this right it is going to be the most important day in that genre.’

"We worked hard to make that happen. A million things could have gone wrong and three things did. It felt like a spiritually great moment for all fans of rock and roll.

"Black Sabbath invented heavy metal. Ozzy and Sabbath could not be more important to me as a fan. I laid out to make it a great show for fans and for them. It is so unusual that those guys headlined it. They got to see all the work they had done and the great artists their music had created but perform for them. And they got to play and feel the love not just from the other bands, the 40,000 people in the stadium but from people all over the world. I do not know if there has ever been an event like that, while everybody is alive, they really got the full measure of how the world loves them.” Morello spoke to US station Q101.

Ozzy, one of the most recognisable and influential musicians in rock, died at the age of 76 on July 22.

As frontman of Black Sabbath, the Birmingham-born musician is credited with inventing heavy metal, thanks to songs like Iron Man and Paranoid.

In a statement at the time, his family said: "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. He was with his family and surrounded by love."