Ozzy Osbourne‘s BLACK SABBATH bandmates have paid tribute to the legendary heavy metal singer after he died at the age of 76 — less than three weeks after they performed for the last time at Villa Park in their original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi took to his social media to write: “I just can’t believe it! My dear dear friend Ozzy has passed away only weeks after our show at Villa Park. It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother. My thoughts go out to Sharon and all the Osbourne family. Rest in peace Oz.”
SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler said: “Goodbye dear friend- thanks for all those years- we had some great fun. 4 kids from Aston- who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”
SABBATH drummer Bill Ward wrote: “Where will I find you now? In the memories, our unspoken embraces, our missed phone calls, no, you’re forever in my heart. Deepest condolences to Sharon and all family members. RIP Sincere regrets to all the fans. Never goodbye. Thank you forever.”
Ozzy died Tuesday morning (July 22),his family announced in a statement.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” the family said.
On the July 8 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Iommi reflected on the “Back To The Beginning” event which marked the original BLACK SABBATH lineup’s first performance since 2005 and the quartet’s final live appearance. He said: “Well, it’s been stressful for the last couple of months, really, thinking about it. And we went into rehearsals a month ago. But you never know until the day. I mean, we hadn’t played on a big stage with Bill for 20 years, so it was wondering what’s gonna happen. But no, it all went fine.”
Asked by host Eddie Trunk if he thought the SABBATH performance went well, especially considering that Iommi had publicly expressed his reservations about playing the show due to the fact that they hadn’t played together in so long, Tony said: “Well, yes. After it’s happened, it’s fine. Yeah, of course. I mean, it raised a lot of money for the charities, and that was the main thing. And it was great to see the guys and all be together again for a few weeks, really, while we were rehearsing and got to know each other again. It was good, yeah.”
Iommi went on to clarify that the reason he hadn’t seen the other members of the original SABBATH lineup in so long is “I live in England and the other three are in the States. So by everybody coming over, yes, we had time to talk and talk of old times,” he explained. “And it just slotted straight back into like we hadn’t left each other, which was great. And of course, a lot’s happened in the last — whatever — 10 years or whatever it was [since] we’d done a show [with SABBATH], and, of course, as I said to you before, we hadn’t played with Bill live for 20 years, so it was hairy wondering what’s gonna happen, really. Because Bill, when he plays, he plays different things every time. So you just have to be on your toes. But no, it went well. I mean, it was strange for us going on a big stage in a big audience, and then also being streamed to millions of people. It’s very nerve racking for a one-off show. Normally we would do a tour and we’d be rolling, but to get all worked up for one show and then — bang, it’s over — seemed really strange.”
Regarding the songs that SABBATH chose to perform at “Back To The Beginning” — “War Pigs”, “Iron Man”, “N.I.B.” and “Paranoid” — Iommi said: “We worked out what we were gonna play, what songs we were gonna play. And it was really a case of how long Ozzy [Osbourne, BLACK SABBATH singer] could do it, really, because we didn’t know — with him doing his own set [right before], which I said to him I didn’t think he should do, because I didn’t want him to get burnt out by the time he’d come with us. But he didn’t, and he did his own set. We ended up doing four songs where we put aside sort of six or seven. But it worked out that we did four. So that was fine.”
After Trunk noted that he was surprised to see Ozzy come back on stage so soon after performing with his solo band to sing the final four songs with SABBATH, Iommi said: “Yeah, that was my concern and that was all our concern, actually — Geezer [Butler, SABBATH bassist], myself and Bill. We thought that he should have a longer break. And we didn’t really know how we were gonna do it, because the original plan was we’d get a curtain and the curtain was gonna be raised and we’d all be there. But of course, on the day — well, the day before, when went down for a soundcheck to the stadium — the curtain didn’t work and they thought best not to use it ’cause it was windy. So then we had to figure out how we were gonna get on stage, which was a revolving stage, by the way. It was mainly getting Ozz on, because he’s in his throne. And then Geezer and I walk on. And Bill was already on. So it was making it up as we went on, really.”
Iommi added that SABBATH was ready to play more songs but that he and the other musicians had run out of time. “Well, we had seven songs that we’d gone through, and then it went down to six,” he said. “And then, of course, there is a strong curfew at the Villa [Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom]. You know what, Eddie?! I’m surprised they managed to get all the bands in anyway — I really am — because the organization… How [RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist and event’s music curator] Tom Morello had organized that was just incredible. He had really done a great job. But they were working to the minute, and it was touch and go. You couldn’t go over your time span; otherwise I don’t know what would’ve happened because they do work to a serious cut-off.”
On the topic of which other songs BLACK SABBATH had rehearsed, Tony said: “Well, we started with ‘Fairies Wear Boots’, and then we’d done ‘Black Sabbath’. And it was a little difficult for Bill ’cause he hadn’t played them for so long. And Geezer and I, of course, we played them on the last tour. And, of course, Bill hasn’t toured, don’t forget, for a long time. So we could have done six [songs], but we ended up doing four.”
Tony said that one of the reasons he was reluctant to play the Villa Park show was that SABBATH had already performed a final concert in Birmingham in 2017, which was filmed for a live DVD and Blu-ray called “The End: Live In Birmingham”. “That’s why I said in the first place I didn’t wanna do it, because I said we’d already done the final show before — it was the end, and that’s why it was called ‘The End’,” Iommi explained. “It was the end, and as far as I was concerned, that was it. And so I disagreed with doing this show for a while. And then, of course, the other three guys wanted to do it. And because it’s for charity, it was a great reason to do it. But, of course, yes, Bill was on [the Villa Park show, where he wasn’t on SABBATH‘s final tour]. And a lot of people said they hadn’t seen Bill and why didn’t we finish it off properly with Bill? And so here we are. We’ve done it, finished it off with Bill. And that’s great. We’ve wrapped it now.”
Asked what he thought of Ozzy and Bill‘s performances at the “Back To The Beginning” event, Tony said: “Well, I’m really a bit of a perfectionist, but they can only do what they can do, and you can’t expect anything else. We’re in our seventies and late seventies, so you can only do so much. And to expect perfection from everybody is just impossible at the moment. But they did what they could do, and everybody was fine about it. And I think the audience would know that and accepted that. They weren’t expecting us to go on and be absolutely just brilliant players. We played as we played and as we are now.”
According to The Guardian, “Back To The Beginning” was livestreamed to more than five million fans worldwide.
Ozzy played a five-song set with his solo band — consisting of guitarist Zakk Wylde, bassist Mike Inez, keyboardist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos — before being joined by Iommi, Butler and Ward for the aforementioned four classic SABBATH songs.
Ozzy‘s solo set consisted of four songs from Osbourne‘s 1980 solo debut album “Blizzard Of Ozz” — “I Don’t Know”, “Mr. Crowley”, “Suicide Solution” and “Crazy Train” — along with his 1991 “No More Tears” ballad “Mama, I’m Coming Home”.
The 76-year-old heavy metal singer, who had Parkinson’s disease, sang while seated on a black throne and appeared overcome with emotion at times. “You have no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he told the crowd.
At the end of SABBATH‘s set, Ozzy said: “It’s the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.” Osbourne was then presented with a cake, while fireworks lit up the stadium from overhead.
A message on screen then read, “Thank you for everything, you guys are fucking amazing. Birmingham Forever,” before the sky lit up with fireworks.
More than 40,000 fans attended the event, which also saw performances from METALLICA, SLAYER, PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD and ANTHRAX, among others. Profits from the show will be shared equally between the charities Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice.
There was also an online auction benefiting those charities. Items up for bid included two Gibson guitars signed by performers, a GUNS N’ ROSES pinball machine, several gold record and CD displays including BLACK SABBATH‘s “Paranoid”, LED ZEPPELIN‘s “Physical Graffiti” and METALLICA‘s “Master Of Puppets”, plus more than a dozen travel packages.
A livestream of the daylong event was announced in June. While it was called a livestream, the video was delayed two hours from the in-arena start time.
Livestream tickets were priced $29.99, which got you live viewing and access to video for 48 hours. The livestream and T-shirt bundle was priced $64.98. It got you event viewing and a “Back To The Beginning” T-shirt.
“Back To The Beginning” was captured, produced and distributed by Mercury Studios (“One To One: John & Yoko”, “American Symphony”, “Metallica Saved My Life”). Mercury has partnered with Kiswe — the global D2C streaming partner behind the record-breaking BTS concert livestream — to deliver this moment of music history to fans across the globe.
The all-day event at Villa Park in Birmingham, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa.
Photo credit: Ross Halfin
I just can’t believe it! My dear dear friend Ozzy has passed away only weeks after our show at Villa Park.
It’s just…
Posted by Tony Iommi on Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Goodbye dear friend- thanks for all those years- we had some great fun. 4 kids from Aston- who’d have thought, eh?
So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston.
Love you.
Posted by Geezer Butler on Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Where will I find you now? In the memories, our unspoken embraces, our missed phone calls, no, you’re forever in my…
Posted by Bill Ward on Tuesday, July 22, 2025