{"id":212613,"date":"2025-06-25T07:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/212613\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T07:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:58:09","slug":"black-sabbath-share-first-look-at-preparations-for-back-to-the-beginning-farewell-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/212613\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Sabbath share first look at preparations for &#8216;Back To The Beginning&#8217; farewell show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/black-sabbath\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Sabbath<\/a> have shared their first behind-the-scenes look at preparations for their upcoming final show \u2013 check it out below.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-content-read-more\">\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/black-sabbath-interview-sharon-ozzy-osbourne-tony-iommi-health-birmingham-villa-park-final-show-new-material-3835523\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sharon Osbourne and Tony Iommi tell us about Black Sabbath\u2019s finale: \u201cUsually this thing is done when you\u2019re dead\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/black-sabbath-final-show-birmingham-july-2025-metalla-slayer-pantera-line-up-tickets-3835042\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sabbath\u2019s huge farewell concert, dubbed \u2018Back To The Beginning\u2019<\/a>, will be held at Villa Park in Birmingham on July 5. It\u2019ll see frontman\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/ozzy-osbourne\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ozzy Osbourne<\/a>, guitarist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/tony-iommi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tony Iommi<\/a>, bassist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/geezer-butler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Geezer Butler<\/a> and drummer Bill Ward perform onstage together for the first time in two decades \u2013 ahead of their finale the forefathers of heavy metal have shared a picture from their rehearsals.<\/p>\n<p>In the picture, which they\u2019ve shared across various social media platforms, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne are seen sitting on a sofa, waving at the camera with huge smiles on their faces. Guitarist Tony Iommi is notably missing from the pictures, but the band have assured fans that \u201crehearsals are underway\u201d, suggesting his presence.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rehearsals are underway for Back To The Beginning: Ozzy\u2019s Final Bow <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8y5bdv8HIr\">pic.twitter.com\/8y5bdv8HIr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BlackSabbath (@BlackSabbath) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlackSabbath\/status\/1937514671621173749?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">June 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The picture also sees Ozzy with a walking cane \u2013 the Prince Of Darkness has not played a full gig since 2018, and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ozzy-osbourne-opens-up-about-slow-recovery-after-final-spinal-surgery-3568962\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">undergone multiple surgeries<\/a>\u00a0and experiencing numerous health problems in recent years, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/film\/ozzy-osbourne-doc-reveal-devastating-setbacks-rockers-parkinsons-spinal-surgeries-3841247\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his health, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ozzy-osbourne-says-hes-giving-120-per-cent-to-get-ready-for-final-show-3866043\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Osbourne has said he is \u201cgiving 120 per cent\u201d as he prepares for his last performance<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve got this trainer guy who helps people get back to normal,\u201d the singer said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard going, but he\u2019s convinced that he can pull it off for me. I\u2019m giving it everything I\u2019ve got. All I can say is I\u2019m giving 120 per cent. If my God wants me to do the show, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He had previously\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/sharon-osbourne-cancels-tour-last-minute-family-issues-ozzy-in-training-for-final-show-3857417\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told fans that he was \u201cin heavy training\u201d for the Black Sabbath farewell concert<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ozzy-osbourne-is-starting-to-get-in-the-gym-again-for-final-black-sabbath-gig-hes-the-real-life-iron-man-3841513\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was back in the gym<\/a>. Osbourne also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ozzy-osbourne-only-playing-little-bits-and-pieces-with-black-sabbath-at-final-reunion-gig-3838506\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said he would only be \u201cdoing little bits and pieces\u201d with Sabbath<\/a>\u00a0at Villa Park amid his health problems: \u201cI am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ozzy-osbourne-says-he-cant-walk-ahead-of-black-sabbaths-final-show-sharon-says-illness-doesnt-affect-his-voice-3835987\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he said he now \u201ccan\u2019t walk\u201d<\/a>\u00a0as a result of Parkinson\u2019s \u2013 but\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/black-sabbath-interview-sharon-ozzy-osbourne-tony-iommi-health-birmingham-villa-park-final-show-new-material-3835523\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his wife and manager, Sharon, has told\u00a0NME\u00a0that his illness \u201cdoesn\u2019t affect his voice\u201d<\/a>. \u201cHe wants to say thank you to everybody,\u201d she explained to us at Villa Park. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharon said her husband was doing \u201creally great\u201d at the time. She told us that Ozzy was feeling \u201cvery emotional\u201d about the final Sabbath set, and that it was \u201cwhat he wants\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DFu3ZyBzEea\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHe wants to say thank you to everybody,\u201d she explained at Villa Park. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.\u201d Sharon added that her husband was doing \u201creally great\u201d at the time and was feeling \u201cvery emotional\u201d about the final Sabbath set, and that it was \u201cwhat he wants\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Black Sabbath\u2019s stacked, star-studded bill boasts an array of heavyweights from the worlds of metal and rock. These include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/tool\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tool<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/metallica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Metallica<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/slayer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slayer<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/pantera\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pantera<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/alice-in-chains\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alice In Chains<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/gojira\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gojira<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/anthrax-added-to-black-sabbaths-back-to-the-beginning-final-gig-line-up-3854739\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anthrax<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/smashing-pumpkins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smashing Pumpkins<\/a>\u2018\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/BILLY-CORGAN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Billy Corgan<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/GUNS-N-ROSES\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Guns N\u2019 Roses<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/KORN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KoRn<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/black-sabbath-final-show-aerosmith-steven-tyler-soundgarden-join-line-up-3860129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aerosmith\u2019s Steven Tyler and the surviving members of Soundgarden<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ozzy-osbourne-and-black-sabbath-announce-global-livestream-of-farewell-show-3867950\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A livestream will begin<\/a>\u00a0at 3pm BST on July 5, and those who have bought livestream tickets will continue to have access to the concert footage in its entirety for another 48 hours afterwards.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black Sabbath have shared their first behind-the-scenes look at preparations for their upcoming final show \u2013 check it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,3981,453,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-212613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-metal","11":"tag-rock","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114742945624611118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}