Ozzy Osbourne has announced his final show — and it will feature a reunion of the original lineup of Black Sabbath for the first time in 20 years.
Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward will finally play together onstage again at a one-day festival this summer featuring an all-star lineup of metal bands, including Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Gojira and Halestorm.
The show, called Back to the Beginning, will take place at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham on July 5, the same city where Black Sabbath was born in 1968.
Osbourne, who has had to slow down on touring since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2020, will perform a short solo set at the beginning before being joined by the other members of Black Sabbath.
“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning … time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne said in a statement announcing the show. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”
The group pioneered heavy metal music in the early 1970s with hits such as War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man. They went on to become one of the most successful metal bands of all time, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide over the years.
Many of the bands slated to perform alongside them at Villa Park have cited Black Sabbath as an inspiration.
“Our admiration for @BlackSabbath runs deep, and we can’t wait to join them in Birmingham,” Metallica shared in an Instagram post announcing their presence at the show.
Music director Tom Morello, known for his tenure with Rage Against the Machine, promised it would be “the greatest heavy metal show ever.”
Black Sabbath were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, after first being nominated in 1999.
Black Sabbath’s rocky history
Black Sabbath’s reunion is all the more exciting for fans who have been along for the ups and downs of the iconic group.
This isn’t the first time the band has announced a final performance; three of the four original members reunited for a tour in 2016-2017 called “The End.” But drummer Bill Ward was not present due to a falling out with Osbourne, which included the two arguing through public Facebook posts in 2015.
Tensions between members have caused schisms multiple times across the band’s history. The first came when Osbourne was fired as lead singer in 1979 due to a drug problem and erratic behaviour.
Although Black Sabbath continued to release albums with a rotating cast of band members, the original lineup wouldn’t reunite again until 1997, apart from a brief 1992 appearance together. The four released a live album, Reunion in 1998.
In 2009, Osbourne sued his bandmate, guitarist Iommi, over royalties. He claimed he should have half ownership over the trademarked name, which Iommi had registered in the U.S. in 2000. Iommi contended that he was the only founding band member who had continuously stayed with the group since its inception. The two had amicably resolved the legal battle by the next year.
All four members announced in 2011 that they would reunite for a new album and a world tour. However, Ward departed before work began on the album 13, citing a contract dispute and health issues.
As a solo artist, Osbourne has released 13 albums, with the latest, Patient Number 9, coming out in 2022.
Following the announcement of the reunion concert this summer, Iommi said in a statement Wednesday that “it’s been an incredible journey, but it’s only fitting that it ends here, where it all began in Aston.
“None of this would’ve been possible without Ozzy, Geezer, and Bill. What we created together was bigger than any one of us, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
July’s show will raise funds for Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
