Ozzy Osbourne’s final show had people crying well before he took the stage. The legendary rocker reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for a July 5 farewell show, Back to the Beginning, held at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
Osbourne, 76, performed five solo songs and four songs with Black Sabbath: “War Pigs,” “N.I.B.,” “Iron Man,” and “Paranoid.” It was the first time the singer performed with founding bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward in more than 20 years. It was also the last. Osbourne died 17 days later.
During a September 2025 appearance on The Metallica Report podcast, Osbourne’s former bassist Robert Trujillo, who was part of his band from 1996 to 2003 before joining Metallica, recalled the emotional behind-the-scenes ahead of the historic Back to the Beginning show.
“Even just hearing [Black Sabbath] warm up on their instruments, this is a whole other level,” Trujillo recalled of witnessing the band’s soundcheck. “This is like [watching] Muhammad Ali shadow box or hit the speed bag – it’s that intense.”
According to Trujillo, Iommi first played “jazz chords” then segued into the classic Black Sabbath song “Into the Void” during the soundcheck.
“And it was really slow and super heavy, but they just went into it,” he said of the 1973 song. “And everybody that was watching – there was a few of us – just started headbanging, and we were all smiling. And some people were crying. Some people were crying.”
“It was so beautiful, and it was a powerful moment that anybody that witnessed it, that was something that they’ll probably remember for the rest of their lives,” Trujillo added.
Even though Osbourne’s death, less than three weeks after Back to the Beginning, was unexpected, it was always known that it would be the pioneering heavy metal band’s final show.
In an interview with Music Week (per Louder), Iommi explained that the Black Sabbath band members agreed to perform the farewell concert because it was a charity show. “It’s absolutely the end,” he added of Sabbath, which formed in 1968. “There’s no way we could go out and do a tour.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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