Black Sabbath announce huge hometown gig for Ozzy Osbourne’s final live performance
‘Back To The Beginning’ will see the original band members play their first gig together in 20 years, a huge hometown stadium show in Birmingham this summer
By Nick Reilly & Will Richards
The original members of Black Sabbath will play their first gig in two decades this summer, serving as Ozzy Osbourne’s final live performance.
In what is being billed as “the greatest heavy metal show ever,” the first ever Sabbath line-up of Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward will head to Villa Park stadium in their hometown of Birmingham on July 5 for a gig dubbed ‘Back To The Beginning’.
It will be Osbourne’s last live performance, and see him playing a short solo set before reuniting with his legendary metal band. Also playing will be the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb Of God, Anthrax and Mastodon.
There will also be a “supergroup of musicians” which includes Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Duff McKagan and Slash, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, who will be the musical director of the show.
The frontman said: “It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning….time for me to give back to the place where I was born.
“How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”
Tickets for ‘Back To The Beginning’ go on sale at 10am GMT on Friday February 14 2025. All profits from the gig will go to Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice, a Children’s Hospice supported by Aston Villa.
Last May, bassist Geezer Butler said that he and Osbourne had “agreed” to play one more show at Birmingham’s Villa Park before he truly retires. It came after Osbourne said he would “jump at the chance” to play a final show with Sabbath and admitted he felt “sad” that drummer Bill Ward was not part of the group’s final show in 2017.
Osbourne also told Rolling Stone UK that he may have to “accept the fact” that a live comeback isn’t feasible due to his Parkinson’s Disease.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, and if I can perform again, I will,” he said. “But it’s been like saying farewell to the best relationship of my life. At the start of my illness, when I stopped touring, I was really pissed off with myself, the doctors, and the world. But as time has gone on, I’ve just gone, ‘Well, maybe I’ve just got to accept that fact.”
He added: ““I’m not going to get up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy looking for sympathy. What’s the fucking point in that? I’m not going up there in a fucking wheelchair. I’ve seen Phil Collins perform recently, and he’s got virtually the same problems as me. He gets up there in a wheelchair! But I couldn’t do that.”