Ozzy Osbourne and heavy metal band Black Sabbath have announced they will reunite to play their final-ever show at a fundraising concert in Birmingham on 5 July.
The July 5 show at the birthplace of the band will feature Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward – the group that pioneered heavy metal music in the early 1970s with hits such as War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man.
Osbourne, who has largely been forced to stop touring due to a combination of Parkinson’s and spinal injuries, will play a short solo set before joining his bandmates.
It’ll mark the first time in 20 years that Black Sabbath have played together.
Since their last gig together in 2005, Black Sabbath has played in partial reunions but never in their original line-up.
Black Sabbath, in what is being billed as its final show, will top a line-up of rock and heavy metal icons including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Lamb Of God and Anthrax at the Villa Park event.
Profits from the show, called Back to the Beginning, will be donated to charities including Cure Parkinson’s, organisers said.
Osbourne, the group’s charismatic frontman who left the band in 1979 due to drug and alcohol problems and went on to pursue a highly successful solo career, said in 2020 he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s … time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne, 76, said in a statement.
“How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal.”
Speaking with BBC News, Ozzy’s wife, Sharon, said he was determined to give his fans one final show.
“He’s doing great. He’s doing really great,” she said. “He’s so excited about this, about being with the guys again and all his friends. It’s exciting for everyone.”
However, she said the concert would definitively be the 76-year-old’s final show.
“Ozzy didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there’s no been no full stop.
“This is his full stop.”
Tickets for Back to the Beginning will go on sale on February 14.
