Ozzy Osbourne has played an emotional final solo show ahead of Black Sabbath’s farewell concert – see footage below.
The historic gig, dubbed ‘Back To The Beginning’, is set to be the final farewell for Osbourne’s iconic heavy metal band. The all-day event is going down at Villa Park in Birmingham today (July 5) and features a who’s who of hard rock music, with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello serving as musical director for the concert.
Ahead of Sabbath’s set, Ozzy gave a final solo performance that saw him rise up from beneath the stage on a giant winged throne and launched into ‘I Don’t Know’ and ‘Mr. Crowley’ from his first solo album, 1980’s ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’.
“It’s so good to be on this fucking stage, you have no idea,” he told the huge crowd. “Let the madness begin!”
He rounded out his set with 1991’s ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ and ‘Crazy Train’, the song played before kick-off at every Aston Villa game at Villa Park. Watch footage here:
OZZY!!!#BackToTheBeginning pic.twitter.com/TeRanzgoJU
— Duke TV (@OfficialDukeTV) July 5, 2025
Ozzy Osbourne live! Black Sabbath’s Final Show! pic.twitter.com/x3CDAnVRNs
— Rock Photography (@Photomusicrock) July 5, 2025
Ozzy has arrived on stage, seated on a throne on stage his voice sounds great and you can feel the love in the arena. Astonishing atmosphere. #blacksabbath pic.twitter.com/odTVlV9vH9
— Nina Nannar (@NinaNannarITV) July 5, 2025
Mi primera camiseta de #Metal fue de #BlackSabbath gracias por tanto Ozzy. La p^Ta madre estoy llorando 😭😅#Backtothebegining pic.twitter.com/ELTOoB56rn
— QueenBee🐝 (@aryamni) July 5, 2025
OZZY FUCKIN OSBOURNE!!!!! 🤟🏼 #backtothebeginning!! @OzzyOsbourne pic.twitter.com/AOKMCORVOc
— Supet (@SupirPete2) July 5, 2025
Ozzy Osbourne played:
‘I Don’t Know’
‘Mr. Crowley’
‘Suicide Solution’
‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’
‘Crazy Train’
Elsewhere at ‘Back To The Beginning’, members of The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Blink-182 joined forces for a Led Zeppelin cover and Yungblud led another supergroup in a version of ‘Changes’, which they dedicated to the late footballer Diogo Jota.
The Prince Of Darkness has not played a full gig since 2018, and has undergone multiple surgeries and experienced numerous health problems, including Parkinson’s disease in recent years.
In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, Osbourne looked ahead to playing the last Black Sabbath show in good health, saying: “I’ll be there, and I’ll do the best I can. All I can do is turn up.” From there, there were also suggestions that he “may be sitting down” on stage, and rumours that he’d be performing from a “throne that flies over the stadium”.
Before then, he told fans that he was “in heavy training” for the forthcoming farewell concert, and was back in the gym. Osbourne also said he would only be “doing little bits and pieces” with Sabbath at Villa Park amid his health problems: “I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable.”
His wife and manager, Sharon, also said to NME that, although he now “can’t walk” as a result of Parkinson’s, his illness “doesn’t affect his voice”. “He wants to say thank you to everybody,” she explained to us at Villa Park. “He didn’t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.”
