Prince of Darkness star, Ozzy Osbourne, took to the stage for Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning festival last night in Birmingham for his last ever performance
Kelly Osbourne has paid a heartfelt tribute to Black Sabbath fans after her dad’s epic gig last night. Prince of Darkness star, Ozzy Osbourne, 76, took to the stage for the Back to the Beginning festival in Birmingham for his last ever performance.
Kelly, who watched the sold-out show at Vila Park show from the stage, thanked everyone for coming to the gig, as she fought back tears, saying: “You don’t know what you’ve done for my dad.” Taking to Instagram today, with the stage now packed away and Ozzy back at home with wife, Sharon, she said: “Hello everyone. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to everybody who came to the show last night. Thank you to everybody who was involved in the show. You have no idea what it did for my dad. It was one of the most magical experiences of my entire life.
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Becoming emotional, Kelly signed off, saying: “If I keep talking, I’m probably going to end up crying again, so that’s all I’ll say for now, thank you.”
It was labelled Back to the Beginning, but it was most certainly the end of an era for Ozzy and Black Sabbath last night.
As the curtain came down on an industry defining career, a full day of metal with the biggest names in the genre a stone’s throw from the star’s childhood home was a fitting way to call it quits.
Fans arrived for the gig from all over the world, including Brazil, Estonia and USA to name a few.
While Ozzy may not have had the energy of his younger years – his frail body confined to his bat-adorned chair – he still put on an incredible show for the crowd, many of whom were in tears over his last ever performance.
He regularly thanked fans, with the sincerity touching. But he still showed the spunk which made him famous with his expletive urges for the crowd to make more noise.
Ozzy made sure his send-off was as epic as it could be as he left to fireworks and a massive cheer from his emotional fans.
It marked a very rare appearance for the legendary Brummy, who first retired from live singing in 2023 because of his numerous surgeries and his Parkinson’s Disease.
His Back To The Beginning super show included sets from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Gojira, Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Halestorm, Mastodon and Rival Sons.
And an all-star super-group also played, with The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Megadeth’s David Ellefson, and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst taking to the stage.
Video messages from celebrities made clear the impact both Osbourne and Black Sabbath have had on the music industry. Dozens of fans also sent in personal videos that were broadcast at the event, crediting the Brummy band for inventing heavy metal and thanking them for their generational influence on music.
In one of the messages before his performance, Sir Elton John told Ozzy: “You are one of the most remarkable singers of our time. You are the king, you are the legend. You’ve been through so much crap in the last few years – I hope this is the best day of your life so far.”
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