Power Trip is an upcoming heavy metal music festival set to take place on 6th-8th October. Although this is the first instance of the event, it is being described as a sequel to 2016’s Desert Trip, a 6 day festival that also took place in Indio, California. Headliners of Desert Trip included Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and The Who.

The rockstar was set to perform at Power Trip this October alongside headliners Metallica, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses. However, in a statement released in July, Osbourne revealed that “Unfortunately, my body is telling me that I’m just not ready yet and I am much too proud to have the first show that I do in nearly five years be half-assed”.

As painful as this is, I’ve had to make the decision to bow out of performing on Power Trip in October.

My original plan was to return to the stage in the summer of 2024, & when the offer to do this show came in, I optimistically moved forward.

Unfortunately, my body is… pic.twitter.com/gHWEE8VuI6

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) July 10, 2023

It has since been revealed that Judas Priest will serve as Ozzy’s replacement at the upcoming event.

The 74-year-old acquired a neck injury after a fall in 2019 that required 2 metal plates to be inserted into his spine. The result of this caused the singer more pain, and meant he required more surgery last year, from which he is still recovering. The heavy metal legend has also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, all of which contributed to his decision to retire from touring. Osbourne made the announcement of his retirement on February 1st.

This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to share with my loyal fans… pic.twitter.com/aXGw3fjImo

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) February 1, 2023

Although the English rocker was optimistic about being able to return to the stage, his wife Sharon Osbourne stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that “He’s doing a lot better, but he still has a long way to go before he can perform a full concert.”

Sharon was joined by daughter Kelly Osbourne, who, when asked about her father’s decision not to perform at Power Trip, claimed that “We can’t talk about it in the house because it is just so heartbreaking to see that all he wants is just one more show”. 

“He said that if he can’t give his fans what they paid to see, he won’t do it”.

Although this decision was clearly very tough to make, Ozzy Osbourne assured fans in his announcement, “I love you all and I will see you soon.” 

This was the second weekend performance of Desert Trip, a classic rock festival organised by the same team behind Coachella, and taking place at the same location in Indio, California. The festival’s bill also featured musical royalty of the likes of Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Who and, and recent Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

The age of the festival’s line-up has led to many renaming the festival ‘Oldchella,’ a sentiment recognised by Sir Paul himself, joking that “we finally found someone under the age of 50″ as the 28-year-old Rihanna made her way offstage.  Seeming to anticipate the older audience’s potential unfamiliarity with the song, McCartney also had the song’s lyrics emblazoned across the massive screen behind him, so that the audience could sing along.  Neil Young also joined the former Beatle onstage to perform a medley, including “A Day in The Life”, as well as John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”

McCartney’s headline performance at Desert Trip follows a surprise gig at Pappy & Harriet’s, a local venue close to the festival’s California site, on October 13. McCartney played an intimate set to just 300 fans, who rushed to get the tickets on a first come, first served basis. McCartney enthused about the gig on his Instagram page, as seen below.

We loved rocking at the Roadhouse! Small surprise gig in the desert (Pioneertown) #PaulMcCartney #OneOnOne #DesertTrip @pappyandharriets

A photo posted by Paul McCartney (@paulmccartney) on Oct 14, 2016 at 1:04am PDT