Black Sabbath fans have hit out at Marilyn Manson being allowed to appear during the band’s final concert.
The legendary band’s farewell show, dubbed ‘Back To The Beginning’, took place at Villa Park in their hometown of Birmingham on Saturday (July 5), with drummer Bill Ward playing with the group for the first time since 2005.
The all-day event featured an eye-watering list of the biggest names in heavy rock, with some others sending video messages that were played on the big screens.
One such video was from Manson, who spoke about his fandom of Ozzy Osbourne’s band. “It is a great honour to be here via this video,” he said. “And I’d like to say congratulations, and I love you very much, Ozzy.”
Several Sabbath fans took exception to Manson’s inclusion in the historic gig, with one describing it as “disgraceful” that was allowed to have his video aired. See a range of reactions below.
Eurgh Marilyn Manson making an appearance on the sabbath stream. Fuck that guy he’s a rapist piece of shit.
— Andrew Jackson (@TrueBlueWhoDat) July 5, 2025
Marilyn Manson on the black sabbath stream fuck off
— M (@fanofwolvesetc) July 5, 2025
ew marilyn manson go away#BackToTheBeginning
— Ben (@ThatMetalNessie) July 5, 2025
Marilyn Manson speaking at the Black Sabbath farewell concert? Phil Anselmo performing? They really brought all the scumbags together.
— u- (@ruemorgue) July 5, 2025
Manson has been the subject of a slew of allegations in recent years: he was accused of rape and domestic violence by four women, which he repeatedly denied as “falsehoods”. The case ended at the start of the year when prosecutors said the claims against him had exceeded the statute of limitations and that they were unable to “prove charges of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt”.
He was due to play a gig in Brighton in October, but it appears that has been cancelled after several MPs spoke up calling for it to be axed.
At ‘Back To The Beginning’, Sabbath played a streamlined four-song set comprised of songs from their first two albums, including ‘Iron Man’ and ‘N.I.B.’, with the huge crowd throwing up devil horns and shouting every word.
As they introduced ‘Paranoid’ to bring the show to an end, Osbourne told the crowd: “It’s the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle, thank you from the bottom of our hearts”.
A who’s who of hard rock music history played sets at ‘Back To The Beginning’, including members of The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Blink-182 joining forces for a Led Zeppelin cover and Yungblud leading another supergroup in a version of ‘Changes’, which they dedicated to the late footballer Diogo Jota.
Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Tool all performed Black Sabbath covers at the show, while Billy Corgan, Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar and others formed another supergroup.
