only five days to learn the songs, though in Aldridge's case, he was quite familiar with Black Sabbath's material after opening for the band countless times as a member of Black Oak Arkansas in the 1970s. As the band began rehearsing, Sharon arrived and informed them, "Now boys, don’t expect to see much of Ozzy at rehearsals. He’s not being very cooperative." The record company planned to include previously recorded live versions of "Iron Man", "Children of the Grave", and "Paranoid" featuring Rhoads on guitar, so Sharon told the band to not bother rehearsing those particular songs. As rehearsals continued without Ozzy, the band was still coming to terms with the loss of Rhoads, and morale was very low. The band members resented the fact that they were rehearsing for an Ozzy Osbourne album while Osbourne himself could not be bothered even showing up. It was during this period that Sarzo, who was already recording the Metal Health sessions in secret with Quiet Riot, made his final decision to leave Osbourne's band. Recording Osbourne, who had not rehearsed the songs with his band at all, finally showed up for soundcheck the day of the first show on September 26, 1982, and had tremendous difficulty remembering the lyrics to many of the songs. During the shows, he placed a folding chair with a desk lamp on top of it at center stage, and placed a notebook with handwritten lyrics to the songs on the chair. Throughout the shows, he often stood by this chair, singing as he read the lyrics from the notebook. The Ritz, which held just under 1,000 people, was sold-out for the performances. Sarzo described the audiences as "rowdy", and also described the acoustics of the converted Latin ballroom as warm, intimate, and perfect for their needs. The band typically used side-fill monitors to allow the musicians to hear the drums while playing on larger stages, but the Ritz's smaller stage forced them to be removed for these shows. This change forced Gillis and Sarzo to spend the majority of the shows standing directly in front of the drum riser in order to hear Aldridge's drums over the intense volume of the band's backline. The mood during the shows was casual, as the usual spectacle of Osbourne's live performances was scaled back with the emphasis instead placed on capturing the tightest possible performances for the recordings. The Record