It’s hard to believe that come Saturday, July 5, Black Sabbath will play their final show … ever.
The legendary rock band, comprising Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums), will take the stage at Back to the Beginning, a star-studded heavy metal event at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning … time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne, 76, said of 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.”
Ahead of Back to the Beginning, Black Sabbath and Osbourne hit some major milestones with a resurgence on the U.K. charts.
Osbourne’s solo album Scream reentered the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart at No. 32, having previously peaked at No. 1. Black Sabbath also climbs the charts with Paranoid, rising to No. 23 on the albums list and its title track hitting No. 17 on the singles chart. This marks 104 total weeks for the single and 231 for the album on their respective tallies.
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Back to the Beginning won’t just feature Black Sabbath, it’s slated to be a once-in-a-lifetime musical event with an artist lineup to match. See below for the known acts:
Metallica
Slayer
Pantera
Gojira
Halestorm
Alice In Chains
Lamb of God
Anthrax
Mastodon
Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)
David Draiman (Disturbed)
Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses)
Slash (Guns N’ Roses)
Frank Bello (Anthrax)
Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit)
Jake E. Lee
Jonathan Davis (Korn)
KK Downing
Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
Mike Bordin (Faith No More)
Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne)
Sammy Hagar (Van Halen)
Scott Ian (Anthrax)
Sleep Token II (Sleep Token)
Papa V Perpetua (Ghost)
Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine)
Wolfgang Van Halen
Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne)
Back to the Beginning, which is fully sold out, will also be available to live stream. Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, explained: “We had such an overwhelming demand from fans from around the globe, who couldn’t get tickets to the show, and they took to social media, pleading with us to broadcast a livestream of the show. Being this is such a historic event, we just couldn’t let them down.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
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