His TV show may have made him even richer, but the mainstream view of Ozzy Osbourne as a bumbling TV clown has damaged his rightful legacy as a rock pioneer. To the frenzied fans who packed Wembley last night, Ozzy was no joke, but a hero. And they had a point.

Osbourne's time with Black Sabbath saw him establish heavy metal as we know it, selling 70 million records into the bargain. And after nearly 40 years in the business, the Birmingham-born hellraiser is still attracting new fans, a feat acknowledged by the Icon award he won at this week's Mojo Awards.

Gallery: More pictures from Ozzy Osbourne's concert here

Clips of his TV tomfoolery flashed up on screens before his arrival, but the crowd - predominantly male and ranging from grizzled old rockers and tattooed Hell's Angel types to skinny young teenagers in even skinnier jeans - didn't want Ozzy the comedian. They wanted Ozzy the rock god.

Sporting a majestic mane of hair, his trademark eyeliner, and a bit of a paunch, he shrieked: "Are you ready to go f***in' crazy?" The answer was a resounding yes, and the crowd's reward was a wild rendition of his 1983 hit, Bark At The Moon.

Widespread air-guitar-playing broke out as his unmistakably eerie voice cut through the roar of the guitars. As the crowd screamed out the chorus, it was clear that for them, Ozzy could do no wrong.

Technically, Osbourne certainly did do a few things wrong. But with the exception of the slightly ropey power ballad, Road To Nowhere, none of his songs were spoiled by his inability to hit all the notes correctly.

He was backed up by the brilliant guitar skills and stage presence of long-time collaborator, Zakk Wylde, whose group, Black Label Society, provided support and whose huge hair, studded guitar strap and theatrical movements brought to mind a Dungeons & Dragons character.

Indeed, there was a gloriously cartoon-like quality to the whole show whose highlight for me was the gritty abandon of War Pigs and which ended, unsurprisingly, with the Black Sabbath classic, Paranoid.

Don't ask me how or why, but the Prince of Darkness has still got it.