Black Sabbath returns for one final performance in their hometown.
The band Black Sabbath, led by Ozzy Osbourne, returns for a final show after 20 years in which the original band members had not reunited in the original lineup.
Sabbath will perform together with other legends of the metal genre such as Metallica, Slayer, and more on July 5 in Birmingham, England, the hometown of the band members.
Ozzy Osbourne announces the final Black Sabbath show in their hometown.
This will be the first time in 20 years that the four original band members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward will play together.
The performance will take place on July 5. In recent years, the original lineup reunited but without drummer Bill Ward.
Osbourne announced the farewell show today, and in addition to Sabbath’s performance, he will include some of the biggest names in the history of metal and heavy rock Osbourne himself will also perform a solo show, and the bands Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Lamb of God, and others will perform.
“This is my time to return to the beginning, to give something to the place where I was born,” Osbourne said with the announcement of the show. In recent years, Osbourne has struggled to return to performing due to a series of health problems.
In a 2023 interview, he said: “I have ten years to live, and that’s in the best-case scenario.”
Osbourne explained that complications from surgery left him in his current condition: moving with the help of a walking stick. “The surgery went drastically wrong and basically left me disabled,” he explained in the interview. “I thought I would already be on my feet after the surgeries, but in the last surgery, they inserted a metal rod into my spine. They found a tumor in one of the vertebrae, so they had to remove that as well. It is quite tough, and my balance is completely ruined.”
Black Sabbath is considered one of the most influential bands of all time in the history of rock and metal. The band was formed in 1968 in Birmingham and presented a dark and gloomy sound, which led many bands one step beyond rock and roll and heavy rock into genres now identified as metal. The obsessive focus on dark themes, death, and gothic elements in the genre largely comes from the influence of Osbourne and his bandmates, as well as playing techniques that became common in the genre.