Black Sabbath Pull Off a Surprise at Final Concert
The guys of Black Sabbath pulled off a big surprise at their “Back to the Beginning” final concert, much to the crowd’s delight. – Author: Scarlett Hunter, Photo via Ross Halfin
The four original members of Black Sabbath reunited to play one last show at the “Back to the Beginning” concert on Saturday, July 5, at Villa Park in the group’s hometown of Birmingham, England. Their performance ended an all-day concert featuring not only Black Sabbath playing their final show but a bevy of rock and metal favorites.
Leading up to the show, it was buzzed about that Osbourne might not be up on the stage with Black Sabbath much during the final concert, due to health issues. So, it was a surprise, and a good one, when Osbourne did, indeed, take the stage with not only Black Sabbath but also his solo band.
For Sabbath, Ozzy, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward took the stage and got an explosive applause and cheeers from the audience. The performance was the group’s first since the final show on their Farwell tour in February 2017, dubbed “The End” tour, and their first gig with Ward on drums in a mighty 20 years.
The set included all of the Black Sabbath classics that one would expect, including “War Pigs,” which they started out with, as well as “Iron Man,” “N.I.B” and “Paranoid.” It was only a four-song set, likely because of Osbourne’s health, but it was worth it. Let’s call it short and sweet. The night also ended with fireworks and confetti.
Before the final performances by Sabbath and Ozzy, the “Back to the Beginning” concert featured performances by Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Mastodon and more. A special, paid livestream of “Back to the Beginning” is available now via the concert’s website through July 7.
Ahead of the Black Sabbath performance, Osbourne took the stage for his final solo set. He made a dramatic entrance, rising from below the stage in a throne. His solo set started with “I Don’t Know” and went on to include some of his most well-known solo songs, such as “Mr. Crowley,” “Suicide Solution,” “Mama I’m Coming Home” and “Crazy Train.” Ozzy’s solo backing band for his final solo show included longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde as well as keyboardist Adam Wakeman, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and Travis Barker of Blink-182 on drums.
What was also a good surprise is that Ozzy’s vocals sounded good even though he’s been dealing with numerous health problems over the past few years. Ozzy famously set out on his final tour back in 2018, but it only was able to go on for a few months, because he was having healthy problems, so he was forced to cancel the run. Then, at the start of 2019, he revealed an ongoing fight with Parkinson’s disease.
On a video posted on YouTube by a fan of the show, which was ultimately taken down, one commenter said, “We were never going to see the original Beatles again. Nor, would we ever be able to see the original Led Zepplin. But goddamn it we got to see the original Black Sabbath one final time. We were alive in the perfect time.”
Another commented, “Apotheotic, I am 70, my granddaughters, my children were extremely excited accompanying Ozzy singing, they couldn’t take their eyes off the monitor, my 5 year old granddaughter dressed in black couldn’t stop watching them, singing, I cried with emotion, I’ve been listening to them since 1968, Black Sabbath will go down in history, LEGEND, I love them.”
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