Zakk Sabbath paid tribute to heavy metal icons at the House of Blues San Diego.
On December 16th a hard rocking tour brought some much needed heavy metal holiday cheer to San Diego in the form of Zakk Sabbath’s American Winter Tour ’25 at the House of Blues San Diego. This heavy metal supergroup/cover band is a popular Black Sabbath tribute, led by guitarist and vocalist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist) and at this show featured some of his musical brothers from Black Label Society including the talented John “JD” Deservio on bass, and the killer Jeff Fabb on drums. Formed around 2014 the band covers songs from across Black Sabbath’s catalog but with their own signature heavy spin. Imagine if all those classic Black Sabbath songs we all know and love had been written and recorded today instead of the 1970’s, all of the songs have a little more chug, heavier bass and drums, and a lot better sonics. However the core essence of the classic Black Sabbath sound is very much being honored here, and what better person to present these songs than Zakk Wylde, a truly virtuosic guitar player, who has performed all of these songs with Ozzy Osbourne as part of his solo band over the years.
This chilly December evening saw an absolute ton of folks packed into the two story downtown House of Blues San Diego. This show sold out almost instantly after it was announced, and the San Diego metal faithful really showed up in mass for this concert, clearly wanting to honor and pay tribute to fallen Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne. The famed frontman and reality TV star delivered his own “Back to The Beginning” farewell show in Birmingham England on July 5th, 2025, and then sadly passed away two weeks later on July 22nd. This show at the very end of the year was a gift, a chance for locals to see someone who had actually performed with Ozzy at his very last show, and a chance for the fans here in San Diego to experience some of these Black Sabbath songs live themselves, and in such a powerful way.
Zakk Wylde is an absolutely incredible guitar player and live performer, no doubt about it. His signature pinch harmonics, and insanely fast soloing ability were all on full display at this show, as was some truly impressive singing that clearly was heavily influenced by his time performing with Ozzy. Classic Sabbath songs like “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Snowblind,” “N.I.B.” and “War Pigs” are so immensely powerful to hear live in concert, and it’s so cool to be able to experience them from a live band cranked up at full volume, the way they were intended to be heard Sadly the original Black Sabbath will never perform these iconic songs live again, so this concert was a really unique chance as a heavy music fan. Bassist John Deservio did fantastic justice with his playing of Geezer Butler’s mighty bass riffs, adding some real heavy thump to the band and drummer Jeff Fabb has also clearly listened to drummer Bill Ward many many times, to be able to faithfully execute so many of these classic beats and drum fills.
Zakk Sabbaths’ winter concert was such a fantastic event and really was a holiday present to the heavy metal community here in Southern California. Hearing all of these classic riffs, played really loud and powerful, especially after what has happened over the last year was honestly therapeutic and much needed. There is just something special about Black Sabbath’s music that is somehow inspirational to a lot of people. It makes folks want to dance, to mosh and release their energy, to interact with the other like minded people at these shows, to play an instrument themselves, or even to bring the metal community together and honor its legacy. Zakk Wylde has a really great project going here with Zakk Sabbath that is honoring and cherishing the memory of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, be sure to check this group out if you love this music and want a chance to hear it again in a really fun way
