OZZY OSBOURNE And BLACK SABBATH Perform For Last Time At 'Back To The Beginning' All-Star Event In Birmingham
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Ozzy Osbourne performed for the last time earlier tonight (Saturday, July 5) at the "Back To The Beginning" event at the Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom. See fan-filmed videos of the event here.
Ozzy played a five-song set with his solo band — consisting of guitarist Zakk Wylde, bassist Mike Inez, keyboardist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos — before being joined by fellow original BLACK SABBATH members Tony Iommi (guitar),Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums) for four classic SABBATH songs: "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "N.I.B." and "Paranoid".
Ozzy's solo set consisted of four songs from Osbourne's 1980 solo debut album "Blizzard Of Ozz" — "I Don't Know", "Mr. Crowley", "Suicide Solution" and "Crazy Train" — along with his 1991 "No More Tears" ballad "Mama, I'm Coming Home".
The 76-year-old heavy metal singer, who has Parkinson's disease, sang while seated on a black throne and appeared overcome with emotion at times. "You have no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he told the crowd.
More than 40,000 fans attended the event, which also saw performances from METALLICA, SLAYER, PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD and ANTHRAX, among others. Profits from the show will be shared equally between the charities Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice.
A livestream of the daylong event was announced in June. While it was called a livestream, the video was delayed two hours from the in-arena start time.
Broadcast live from Birmingham, United Kingdom's Villa Park, those who missed out on being there can still experience this unforgettable moment, with the chance to rewatch the concert in its entirety for another 48 hours.
For more information, visit www.backtothebeginning.com.
"Back To The Beginning" was captured, produced and distributed by Mercury Studios ("One To One: John & Yoko", "American Symphony", "Metallica Saved My Life"). Mercury has partnered with Kiswe — the global D2C streaming partner behind the record-breaking BTS concert livestream — to deliver this moment of music history to fans across the globe.
The all-day event at Villa Park, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa, and featured a supergroup of musicians.
Last month, Iommi told Music Week about "Back To The Beginning": "This would be a big, monumental thing if it all comes good. The worrying thing for me is the unknown.
"Normally, when we'd tour, we'd rehearse and run through the thing for a while, and it's just us," he explained. "But with this event there are so many other moving parts."
Iommi went on to say that he was approaching this show with "excitement mixed with fear". He clarified: "Once we start playing, then we'll know we're doing it. It's always a worry, even when we did tours before, there's always that build-up, and then it gets to the point that we do it and it's okay."
In May, Iommi revealed to The Guardian that it took some serious convincing to get him on board for "Back To The Beginning".
"I'm the one that said, 'I don't know if we should do it', because we did a farewell tour and I didn't want to get into that thing like all the other bands are doing, saying it's the last tour and then reappearing again," he explained.
As for what changed his mind, Tony said: "I've been convinced, because we're doing it for a reason… No one's getting paid or anything."
For his part, Butler admitted to The Guardian that he was stressing about the gig. "I'm already having palpitations," he revealed. "In fact, I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed everything went wrong on stage and we all turned to dust. It's important that we leave a great impression, since it's the final time that people will experience us live. So it has to be great on the night."
This past February, Sharon told The Sun that her husband is struggling to walk amid his battle with Parkinsons disease, but that his singing voice is "as good as ever". She said: "[Ozzy's] very happy to be coming back and very emotional about this.
"Parkinson's is a progressive disease. It's not something you can stabilize. It affects different parts of the body and it's affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it's ever been."
According to Sharon, Ozzy, who paused touring "for now" in 2023 after extensive spinal surgery and rescheduled his "No More Tours 2" shows from going ahead several times because of illness, the pandemic and logistical issues, will not play any more shows after the Villa Park event.
"Ozzy didn't have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there's no been no full stop," she explained. "This is his full stop."
In addition, there was a performance by a "supergroup of musicians" including Billy Corgan (THE SMASHING PUMPKINS),K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST),Jake E. Lee (OZZY OSBOURNE),Nuno Bettencourt (EXTREME),Sammy Hagar (VAN HALEN) and Steven Tyler (AEROSMITH).
The original lineup of BLACK SABBATH had last performed in 2005. Since then, SABBATH had played in partial reunions but never in its original lineup.
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
