The Decemberists were among the long lists of musicians honoring and paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne on the day of his passing. At their recent show in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at the Wind Creek Event Center, the band joined forces with opening act MELT to perform the Black Sabbath classic “Paranoid.” Usual lead singer Colin Meloy relinquished the microphone to drummer John Moen who took lead on the tribute. (Meloy took Moen’s place at the drum kit.)
Only a snippet of the performance has made it to social media, but you can clearly see that the performance is heartfelt, but maybe not fully polished. You can also see the joy in the crowd, jumping and clapping along, celebrating the life of a music icon. Moen capped off the band’s performance by saying simply, “we lost a great one today.”
The song was the title track on the 1970 album by Black Sabbath. In 2017, Rolling Stone named it the greatest metal album of all time.
