Remembering Fresno's love/hate relationship with Ozzy Osbourne

Plus, a debut from the Orosi Boys.

Jul 27, 2025

Ozzy Osbourne was an anomaly among aging rock musicians; a singer who managed to reinvented himself multiple times across multiple generations while somehow remaining true to his core identity.

Depending on your age, you may have known Ozzy as:

An icon of late ‘70s stadium rock with Black Sabbath. See: the cover of Vol. 4 if you have questions.
The face and voice of ’80s satanic panic. Listen to “Suicide Solution.”
The almost bumbling patriarch of 2000s reality television with “the Osbournes.”
A new-talent tastemaker, who, along with his wife, had knack for breaking new artists, especially on his Ozzfest concert tours.

That’s saying nothing, really, of his catalog of music, which helped define the very notion of metal music (heavy and otherwise) for a span of five decades. See: Back to the Beginning, the concert festival/film produced two-weeks before his death on Tuesday.

While Fresno fans (myself included) are not doubt mourning the loss of the Prince of Darkness, it’s worth remembering the city’s love/hate relationship with the musician.

Osbourne came through Fresno with some regularity starting in the mid-’70s and into the early ’80s. There’s reference of a Black Sabbath show at the Madera Speedway in 1975 on an insane festival(?) that also included sets by Rod Stewart & The Faces (HL), Lynyrd Skynyrd and Fleetwood Mac.

This was followed by a stop at the Selland Arena in 1976. That show was captured on film, which was floating around the Internet for awhile. The band was back at the arena in 1978 (with Van Halen opening).

As a solo artist, Osbourne played Fresno in 1982 (on the Diary of a Madman tour) and 1984 (for “Bark at the Moon”). And then … That’s it.

Not that Osbourne didn’t schedule other shows in Fresno. There were three scheduled over the span of the next decade, plus.

None of them happened.

In 1996, upwards of 6,000 people showed up to see the Ozzman (and also Korn), only to be told the show was nixed. This was the second time Osbourne had no-showed. The fist was somewhere around 1986, according to reports.

This one was filed under the headline “Where the Hell is Ozzy?”).

The ‘96 cancelation was caused by either 1.) weather issues coming out of Los Angeles, or 2.) Osbourne’s back issues. The concert was rescheduled two months later, this time with Marilyn Manson and Sepultura as openers.

That show was also called off with people already in line at the arena.

This time officials said Osbourne’s wife Sharon had been injured and there was no redo. People were pissed, threatening to never pay to see Osbourne come through town again.

They got their wish.

While a Dio fronted Black Sabbath did play Fresno again (on the “Heaven and Hell,” reunion in 2007 with Queensryche and Alice Cooper opening), Osbourne himself never made it back to Fresno.

He did play Bakersfield that year on the Black Rain tour.

New music alert: Orosi Boys

Lance Canales dropped a surprise on us this week with Orosi Boys, a band(??) “born on the backroads … as a vibrant musical initiative that captures the essence” of the community that bears its names.

This is “more than just music,” according to its somewhat cryptic press.

“It’s a tribute to the people, culture, and soul of Orosi.”

One could (and I will) assume the band is connected to Canales, given he’s been promoting it and that he has proudly been representing Orosi (and its artistic community) for decades.

In the 20-teens, Canales saw some success with his group The Flood, which included some national attention his rendition of the 1948 Woody Gutherie song “Plane Crash at Los Gatos: Deportee.” The song, done it collaboration with author/poet Tim Z Hernandez was notable for actually listing out the names of the Mexican nationals who died in the crash. They had been listed simply as “deportees” in the original news article.

Orosi Boys is a groove of a song that brings to mind ’90s era Masters of Reality (an obscure reference, perhaps, but apt). It also brings to mind Canales early work with his band Redemption. Those who live/lived in the Kingsburg/Reedley/Orosi area at time will know (they may have had a cassette tape. I did and still do, somewhere.

But the thing kind of speaks for itself:

“Orosi Boys … God damn.”

Bandgeeeek!

Ready for more?