{"id":303609,"date":"2025-07-30T09:54:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T09:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303609\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T09:54:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T09:54:26","slug":"ozzy-osbourne-funeral-latest-updates-on-birmingham-procession-route-livestream-and-private-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303609\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne funeral latest: Updates on Birmingham procession route, livestream and private service"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Thousands of fans travel to Birmingham… and the pints are already flowing<\/p>\n

As the morning has gone on, thousands more have joined the crowds to celebrate the life of the rock legend.<\/p>\n

Fans have travelled from across the Midlands, with hundreds decked in Black Sabbath concert T-shirts and blasting music from handheld speakers. Pints are flowing at the Wetherspoons opposite the Black Sabbath bridge, with punters here since 8am. <\/p>\n

Ozzy Osbourne lookalikes are dotted around, as well as dedicated fans in their camping chairs, who have been here since the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Jacob King\/PA Wire)\"\"(Jacob King\/PA Wire)\"\"(Jacob King\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Holly Evans30 July 2025 10:48<\/p>\n

<\/a>Mayor calls Ozzy Osbourne ‘a son of Birmingham’<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s mayor Zafar Iqbal said in a statement: \u201cOzzy was more than a music legend \u2013 he was a son of Birmingham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving recently been awarded the Freedom of the City and following his celebrated appearance at the Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park earlier this month, it was important to the city that we support a fitting, dignified tribute ahead of a private family funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe know how much this moment will mean to his fans. We\u2019re proud to host it here with his loving family in the place where it all began, and we are grateful that they have generously offered to pay to enable this to happen and support the city is giving him the farewell he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roisin O’Connor30 July 2025 10:46<\/p>\n

<\/a>Ozzy fan renames his pet ‘Doggy Osbourne’ for the day<\/p>\n

Roy Brown-Lowe, 64, has travelled here today with his pet hound Bruce, who has been renamed \u2018Doggy Osbourne\u2019 for the day. Asked what the musician means to Birmingham, he responded: \u201cOzzy Osbourne is Birmingham. Look at the people here, Birmingham loves Ozzy and Ozzy loved Birmingham\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"RoyRoy Brown-Lowe, 64, with his faithful hound Bruce, who has been renamed \u2018Doggy Osbourne\u2019 for the day. (The Independent\/Caspar Barnes)<\/p>\n

Holly Evans30 July 2025 10:37<\/p>\n

<\/a>REVIEW: Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath\u2019s historic farewell show was less Live Aid, more Loud Aid<\/p>\n

With merging and collaborating metal acts swapping over on a revolving stage, it\u2019s a fast-spinning Lazy Susan of metal history. Yet there\u2019s precious little ego and plenty of heartfelt humility, Mark Beaumont wrote in his five-star review of Back to the Beginning:<\/p>\n

Roisin O’Connor30 July 2025 10:31<\/p>\n

<\/a>‘Ozzy Osbourne was completely himself… money didn’t change him’<\/p>\n

Ryan Darling, 23, Emma Powell, 19, Ben Alexander, 24, have all travelled up from the West Midlands to pay their respects. As a younger generation of heavy metal fans, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath have been instrumental in them forming their own heavy metal band Mount Slatra. <\/p>\n

Asked what their favourite aspect of Ozzy was, Ryan said: \u201cHe was completely unapologetic and himself, well and truly throughout. Money didn\u2019t change him, he was working class from the beginning and even when finding success as a musician both solo and in Black Sabbath, he was always unapologetically Ozzy Osbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"L-R:L-R: Ben, Emma and Ryan of the heavy metal band Mount Slatra, who travelled to Birmingham to pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne (The Independent\/Holly Evans)<\/p>\n

Holly Evans30 July 2025 10:20<\/p>\n

<\/a>Ozzy Osbourne flung open hell\u2019s musical gates \u2013 and changed the world<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t yet read this fantastic tribute to Ozzy from Mark Beaumont, now would be the time! Mark was also at Black Sabbath\u2019s farewell concert, Back to the Beginning – I\u2019ll share his review (also brilliant) shortly. <\/p>\n

Roisin O’Connor30 July 2025 10:01<\/p>\n

<\/a>Couple Karen and Steve Brookhouse: ‘There will never be another Ozzy’<\/p>\n

Decked in full Black Sabbath clothing, Karen and Steve Brookhouse, aged 54 and 65, have come to pay their respects to the man who has been \u201cthe soundtrack of their lives\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere will never be another Ozzy,\u201d Karen said. \u201cOzzy\u2019s music has been there through the good times and the bad, as long as I can remember so we just felt we had to be here.\u201d <\/p>\n

The couple had been unable to secure tickets for the Black Sabbath\u2019s last concert so had travelled here \u201cto say goodbye\u201d. <\/p>\n

Such is their love for the band that they chose a Black Sabbath song for the first dance at their wedding. \u201cHe was amazing. It was an honour to see him,\u201d Steve said.<\/p>\n

Roisin O’Connor30 July 2025 09:52<\/p>\n

<\/a>Hundreds of people are already gathered at the barriers<\/p>\n

Over three hours before the procession, several hundred people have already gathered along the barriers, turning the street into a sea of black and purple. Some fans have been here since 5am to show their respects.<\/p>\n

Holly Evans30 July 2025 09:34<\/p>\n

<\/a>Ozzy Osbourne wanted his funeral to be \u2018celebration, not a mope-fest\u2019<\/p>\n

The \u2018Prince of Darkness\u2019, \u2013 once notorious for his hard-living antics <\/a>that included biting the head of a dead dove and \u201csnorting a line of ants\u201d \u2013 previously opened up about his vision for a send-off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t care what they play at my funeral; they can put on a medley of Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle and We Are the Diddymen if it makes \u2019em happy \u2013 but I do want to make sure it\u2019s a celebration, not a mope-fest,\u201d he said in a fan Q&A back in 2011. <\/p>\n

Roisin O’Connor30 July 2025 09:31<\/p>\n

<\/a>Graffiti artist Mr Murals helps touch up murals before the funeral procession<\/p>\n

Graffiti artist Daniel, who goes by his professional name Mr Murals, was not born and raised a heavy metal fan, despite his roots being in Birmingham and fully being aware of Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s influence on the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was asked seven weeks ago to help with murals in the city ahead of the final Black Sabbath concert. I\u2019ve listened to them more in the last few weeks than I ever have, and it\u2019s been amazing to be part of. I\u2019ve been down here early this morning touching up the murals ahead of the procession, and then I\u2019ll be going down to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GraffitiGraffiti artist Mr Murals has been working on the murals around Birmingham ahead of Ozzy’s funeral procession (The Independent\/Holly Evans)<\/p>\n

Holly Evans30 July 2025 09:20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of fans travel to Birmingham… and the pints are already flowing As the morning has gone on,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-303609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114941582820947952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303609","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=303609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}