Metal fans have been deprived of seeing their biggest and best bands strutting their stuff on stages across the world of late. That’s not going to necessarily change anytime soon, but thankfully fans got to experience their favourite bands again – albeit virtually – recently.

The Spirit of Ozzfest Weekend was a virtual concert screened across Ozzy’s Boneyard on SiriusXM earlier this month.

The event featured archived footage of the world’s greatest metal bands from their most memorable performances over several years.

From Black Sabbath and Metallica to Pantera and Megadeth and many others, they were all there, doing their things for fans in front of screens around the world.

Ozzy Osbourne, of course, was a highlight throughout. The concert was rebroadcast a few times, leaving Ozzy fans satisfied enough until the next time they get to see their veritable demigod live.

If fans don’t know already, it’s interesting to mention that besides his successful career in music, Ozzy has a good set of investments in the world of iGaming. He is an ambassador for Metal Casino and has a slot game developed by NetEnt named after him. The Ozzy Osbourne slot game is being featured among well-established and some promising new casinos that provide NetEnt games.

Ozzfest started more than two decades ago and it’s only right that its legacy continues to this day – and that the original lead singer of Black Sabbath’s passion for online gambling will keep going via Metal Casino and his slot game.

The Spirit of Ozzfest Weekend was a remarkable event. The performances of Slipknot and System of a Down were huge highlights for the most ardent or neutral fans. Watching Corey Taylor and the rest of ‘The Knot’ family wow thousands of ‘maggot’ fans time and time again is always great. Now, that their performances are even fewer and far between, gems like those rebroadcast during the Spirt of Ozzfest Weekend are entirely appreciated.

And, folks, to be clear – we’re not just talking about regurgitated YouTube footage. No, this is pristine and well-archived hours and hours of amazing performances. The rawness was not lost with some minor edits. Viewers got the real thing as far as humanly possible. ‘Nothing else matters,’ as Metallica would vouch.

System of a Down were ahead of their time. Their progressive instrumentalism and aggressive, yet melodic, vocals are still a treat to the ears all these years later. It was particularly special and poignant reliving some of their best times via The Spirit of Ozzfest Weekend.

The showings of these bands, some of which were coupled with interesting and intriguing stories from the festival across 20-plus years, were also especially memorable.● Hatebreed● Iron Maiden● Judas Priest● Slayer● Tool ● Down● Black Label Society● Motörhead

All in all, The Spirit of Ozzfest Weekend was a metal spectacleand one trusts it’ll happen again if needs be.