Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Tool all performed Black Sabbath covers at the band’s final ever gig yesterday (July 5). Check them out below.
- READ MORE: Sharon Osbourne and Tony Iommi tell us about Black Sabbath’s finale: “Usually this thing is done when you’re dead”
The historic gig, dubbed ‘Back To The Beginning’, took place at Villa Park in their hometown on Saturday night (July 5), marking the final farewell for the iconic heavy metal band, with founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward playing alongside each other for the first time since 2005.
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.
Elsewhere, Tool played the 1970 Black Sabbath hit ‘Hand Of Doom’, taken from their album ‘Paranoid’.
It came after Tool’s drummer Danny Carey participated in a drum circle with Mastodon’s Brann Dailor, Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande and Gojiras’s Mario Duplantier during Mastodon’s cover of ‘Supernaut’. Carey and bandmate Adam Jones also played in a Billy Corgan-fronted supergroup alongside Tom Morello, K.K. Downing, and Rudy Sarzo.
Tool
Back to the Beginning Black Sabbath
Ozzy pic.twitter.com/csuRCJLPAQ— El Rock Sabe Todo (@ElRockSabeTodo) July 5, 2025
Guns N’ Roses also performed four Black Sabbath covers, taking on ‘It’s Alright’, ‘Never Say Die’, ‘Junior’s Eyes’ and ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’. The latter was revealed when the band were heard rehearsing it during a recent soundcheck.
Metallica was the penultimate band to perform before the Black Sabbath finale. They kicked off their set by covering ‘Hole in the Sky’ from 1975’s ‘Sabotage’, and they also covered ‘Johnny Blade’ from 1978’s ‘Never Say Die!’. Check out the footage below.
For the first time since 1992, @gunsnroses played It’s Alright at Back to the Beginning in ode to Black Sabbath. 🖤
I love Sabbath and the night is about them and Ozzy, but for us GN’R fans specifically, it’s really special to hear this again in 2025. pic.twitter.com/N5A4CFox9W
— Jen ⚡️ (@TheGNRGiirl) July 5, 2025
Guns N’ Roses tocando ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ no festival de despedida de Ozzy Osbourne e Black Sabbath pic.twitter.com/r7xMBxY9fR
— Guns N’ Roses News (@gnrnewsbrasil) July 5, 2025
Elsewhere at the historic gig, host Jason Momoa started a circle pit during Pantera’s set.
Prior to last night, the Prince Of Darkness had not played a full gig since 2018, having 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.”
