Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler will reunite for Back To The Beginning on Saturday, July 5
12:07, 18 Jun 2025Updated 12:11, 18 Jun 2025
Ozzy Osbourne in his garden, August 19, 1978(Image: Mirrorpix)
The final Black Sabbath gig is on the horizon with the Back To The Beginning all-day show scheduled for Saturday, July 5.
Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler will be joined by some of the very best heavy metal bands on the planet for a super show at Villa Park Stadium as Ozzy bows out of live performances forever.
Together, the founding fathers of their genre will say goodbye to their fans in the neighbourhood where it all began more than half a century ago.
Read more: All the Birmingham places heavy metal fans need to visit during Black Sabbath weekend
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From breaking the news on February 5, heading to Villa Park to meet with Sharon Osbourne to get all the details that same afternoon through to ticket scrums and more, we’ve been bringing you the most comprehensive coverage of this significant cultural moment in our city. And there’s more to come.
We’ll be bringing you the news from inside and outside Villa Park Stadium on July 5 but for now, here’s everything you need to know about Back To The Beginning.
We’ll keep this updated as we approach the event and more details emerge so be sure to bookmark it and we’ll keep you looped in.
Line-up
The huge line-up for the concert has continued to grow since the news broke back in February.
Initially, the bill included the following bands and artists:
- Metallica
- Slayer
- Pantera
- Gojira
- Halestorm
- Alice In Chains
- Lamb Of God
- Anthrax
- Mastodon
- Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)
- David Draiman (Disturbed)
- Duff McKagan (Guns ‘N Roses)
- Slash (Guns ‘N Roses)
- Frank Bello (Anthrax)
- Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit)
- Jake E Lee
- Jonathan Davis (Korn)
- KK Downing
- Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
- Mike Bordin (Faith No More)
- Rudy Sarzo
- Sammy Hagar
- Scott Ian (Anthrax)
- Sleep Token ii (Sleep Token)
- Papa V Perpetua (Ghost)
- Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)
- Wolfgang Van Halen
- Zakk Wylde
Then, after the initial wave was announced it was revealed that it would all be hosted by Hollywood star and heavy metal fan Jason Momoa.
Following that, even more bands were added to the bill, including producer Andrew Watt, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, ex-Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson and Ugly Kid Joe musician Whitfield Crane.
Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), David Draiman (Disturbed), Frank Bello (Anthrax), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), Jake E Lee, Jonathan Davis (Korn), KK Downing and Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) were confirmed to appear.
That wasn’t all. Then Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and the surviving members of Soundgarden were added to the huge gig poster!
Parking
Because Villa Park is in a built-up neighbourhood, there’s no parking at the stadium itself – put it in your sat nav and try and head there and you’ll have a ‘mare.
There’ll be congestion too, if you’re planning on being dropped off and picked up, or hoping to book a taxi (though a taxi rank will be in operation at Aston Parish Church, adjacent to the stadium).
There are some third party parking opportunities though, if you want to book in advance. You’ll find them through astonvillaparking.co.uk and countrywidemanagementsolutions.co.uk.
Your best bet if you’re driving is to park in Birmingham city centre and get the train out to Aston, or get the official shuttle buses that leave every ten minutes.
They go from Dudley Street near New Street Station to Aston Hall over the road from the stadium. The last coach leaves Villa Park at midnight back to town and that’s £7.50 one way, or £15 return.
Book a slot at astonvillaparking.co.uk. If you forget, don’t panic, you can book on the day as well.
Accessible parking
Pre-bookable parking is available at Tesco Aston, Aston Villa Inner City Academy and at Yew Tree School, you’ll just need to arrange and then leave your blue badge and parking ticket.
Aston Villa can help if you have accessibility needs, ring their ticket office on 0333 323 1874 or email their accessibility team at accessibility@avfc.co.uk.
Trains
You’ll see in the section above how to get to and from Villa Park by coach and taxi, but train is a great option too.
There’ll be extra services added towards Witton and Aston stations and they run pretty late.
The last train towards Rugeley Trent Valley from Witton is at 11:32pm and if you’re heading back to the city centre, they’re regular from Aston until 11:52pm.
There are ticket machines at the station, or you can pre-book, but there’s almost always staff on hand to assist and keep people safe if you just show up and need guidance.
Moreover, most Brummies are really helpful if you ask, so if in doubt, follow the throng to the station and someone will surely help guide you if this is your first time getting the train in Birmingham!
Show time
So after some back and forth, it seems that the gates are now set to open at 11am on the day of the gig.
Given the line-up is so huge, there’s no indication yet of how the day will be structured but if we get any set times of guidance ahead of doors opening, we’ll add them here first so, keep checking back.
If it’s not here, it probably hasn’t been announced yet!
Don’t forget, if you’re live streaming the show, it’s screening on a two hour delay. Here are details on that.
Set list
Just like the timings, a set list hasn’t been revealed and we can’t garner any insight from past gigs because this is a once in a lifetime kind of an event!
That said, early on after announcing the gig, Ozzy did create a playlist on Spotify that made us wonder…
Here’s our fan theory on that!
Tickets
The last wave of tickets for Black Sabbath’s final gig have now gone on sale, you can find details of that here.
It’s worth mentioning at this stage that Ticketmaster has opened up its reselling platform for the gig now so, as we approach the day, it may be that some fans find they can’t go and suddenly their ticket becomes available to buy.
So if you’ve got your heart set on being there, hope is not yet lost. Keep on checking Ticketmaster, and good luck!
Live stream
The Back To The Beginning gig will be live streamed but it’s not exactly live. There’ll be a two hour delay.
You can book tickets for that now, though. It’ll cost £24.99 – these are the details you need.
Venues around the city will be showing the event on a big screen and we’ve got a whole separate story on that, we’ll link that here when it’s live.
Merchandise
Profits from merchandise will go to the three charities benefitting from Sabbath’s last gig – the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Cure Parkinsons.
There’ll almost certainly be some limited edition options for sale in the stadium but we’re yet to catch a glimpse.
That said, the limited edition live stream shirt looks pretty cool – here’s that!
Other things to do in Birmingham on Black Sabbath weekend
If you’re a fan of heavy metal and you’re coming to town for the weekend, there’s loads happening in our coolest rock bars.
In fact, we’ve put together a complete guide of places to visit.
There are alternative markets, places to get tattooed, late-night club nights and afterparties.