When Robert Trujillo Accidentally Cut Ozzy Osbourne’s Stage Power
Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo recalled the 1991 moment he accidentally cut the stage power while Ozzy Osbourne was performing.
The incident took place long before he joined Osbourne’s band and later became a member of Metallica. He was touring in support of the debut album by Infectious Grooves, his Suicidal Tendencies side project with Mike Muir.
“When Infectious Grooves first opened for Ozzy, it was a theater in Austin,” Trujillo told Revolver in a new interview. “We were really excited. … And the first thing we see when we get off the tour bus is … a pentagram on the ground and a dead raven, black roses and candles! ... It’s like, ‘Welcome to the tour.’ We’re literally like, ‘What are we getting ourselves into?’”
He admitted his band's set needed work, but they managed to earn a decent response from Osbourne’s fans and then went to watch the headline act from the side of the stage. “We had a beer and we’re like creeping around the backstage as Ozzy’s playing,” he said. “And it's dark – and I tripped over a pile of cables. I basically fell [into the] connectors for the monitors, the power lines and everything – and I knocked out the power to the monitor system! It was like slow motion: I see myself falling … and I’m knocking out like three of the input jacks, and all of a sudden the power’s out onstage.”
He recalled being “so scared,” but one of Osbourne’s crew had seen what had happened and moved to resolve the situation. Meanwhile, Trujillo was convinced he got Infectious Grooves kicked off the tour. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, we’re going home,’” he said. “I went into the catering and I was trying to just play it off. … And Ozzy’s tour manager came behind me and he was really nice about it, luckily. He put his arm around me and said, ‘Robert, did you knock out the power to the monitor rig?’ And then I said, ‘Yes.’
“And he goes, ‘OK, don’t do that again, please.’ I go, ‘Are we going home?’ And he goes, ‘No, just don’t do that again. … You’re lucky. Ozzy thinks that there was a power outage in Austin.’ ... It was a cursed first gig. Welcome to the world of Ozzy Osbourne.”