Every end is just another beginning. As its evocative title suggests, Black Sabbath and their many famous friends’ stacked one-day show, here in Birmingham’s Villa Park stadium, is intended to bring the band’s story to a close back where it all began: their beloved hometown. The four-piece’s legacy is intrinsically tied to the city in England’s Midlands, whose endless sprawl of factories once produced what Black Sabbath came to define: heavy metal.
The band made their final appearance on Saturday (July 5), under the banner of their original, “classic” lineup (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward), and boast a legacy that’s almost impossible to quantify. They are the ground zero of heavy music, the big bang from which every metal subgenre and major act within it was birthed. As the great musicians here today continuously attest, across the course of their short and sweet sets (which all range from around 15 to 40 minutes in length): None of them would exist if it weren’t for Sabbath and their music.
45,000 fans descended on Villa Park (home to Ozzy’s beloved Aston Villa F.C.) to witness this final communion, whose proceedings are entirely being donated to a range of charities, including Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The imposing, traditionally designed stadium makes for suitably grand staging for the day’s proceedings and proves a smart marrying of two of the city’s key cultural touchstones. Ahead of various other large summer gigs and their opening of a nearby 3,500-capacity named The Warehouse; Saturday’s proceedings affirm the location’s stature as a top-tier events space and a worthy host of this pilgrimage.
While “Back to the Beginning” and its dense array of talent on display proves to be a head-spinning feast of metal and rock music, an air of poignancy also hangs over the latter-stage proceedings. Knowing this is Sabbath and Ozzy’s final performances (the latter is managing a number of health issues) imbues it with an end of an era feel, although, as the show’s multi-layered title might suggest: heavy metal will continue, but forever situated in the shadow of Black Sabbath’s titanic contributions.
Here are nine of the best moments from “Back to the Beginning” at Villa Park:
