{"id":303773,"date":"2025-07-30T11:24:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303773\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T11:24:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:24:32","slug":"ozzy-osbourne-funeral-procession-fans-line-birmingham-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303773\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne funeral procession: fans line Birmingham streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of metal fans are filling the streets of Birmingham to mourn to one of the city\u2019s favourite sons, the Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne.<\/p>\n

Osbourne\u2019s coffin will be carried through the city centre to Black Sabbath Bridge at 1pm on Wednesday. The website hosting a live stream appeared to crash 90 minutes before it was due to start.<\/p>\n

A private funeral will be held at a church near his home in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, on Thursday. Bandmates, family and other rock stars \u2014 including Sir Elton John, Metallica\u2019s James Hetfield and the British singer Yungblud \u2014 will be there.<\/p>\n

\"Floral<\/p>\n

The Broad Street bridge named after the band has been covered in tributes for days<\/p>\n

LEON NEAL\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\"Dog<\/p>\n

Roy Brownlowe, 64, brought his dog Bruce<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER FURLONG\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Zafar Iqbal, the lord mayor of Birmingham, said that the procession was a way to \u201cpay our last respects and homage to one of the greatest living legends of Birmingham\u201d. He added: \u201cHe put Birmingham on the map. He put Aston on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birmingham has responded in kind, leaving so many tributes on the bridge that stewards have been deployed to ensure pedestrians can pass. \u201cThe love [fans] showed for Ozzy and his family was immense,\u201d Iqbal said.<\/p>\n

Black Sabbath created heavy metal in 1970 with songs like Paranoid and War Pigs, and reunited for a farewell show<\/a> barely a fortnight before Osbourne\u2019s death aged 76<\/a> on July 22. The concert, watched by almost six million paying fans online, raised about \u00a3140 million for Acorns Children\u2019s Hospice, Birmingham Children\u2019s Hospital and the charity Cure Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Ozzy<\/p>\n

Osbourne sang nine songs from a black throne at Back to the Beginning<\/p>\n

Fans from around the world have travelled to Birmingham to pay their respects. \u201cTo our king of metal, you were a light in the darkness, the most beautiful, humble, glorious madman,\u201d one tribute said. \u201cWe were so lucky. Thank you for the music. Without it, I\u2019m not sure who I\u2019d be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fans\"Man\"Fans\"Girl<\/p>\n

Broad Street in Birmingham<\/a> will be closed to traffic for most of the day. Bostin Brass Band, a fixture of the city\u2019s live music scene, will accompany the procession with Osbourne\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

A book of condolence is open at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which is hosting an exhibition opened last month called Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero.<\/p>\n

On same day as the procession, the band Iron Maiden announced the death of its original singer, Paul Mario Day.<\/p>\n

Day, 69, joined Iron Maiden in 1974 before leaving the band in 1976. He then joined another heavy metal band, More. Iron Maiden\u2019s self-titled debut album was released in 1980.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of metal fans are filling the streets of Birmingham to mourn to one of the city\u2019s favourite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-303773","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\/114941936908803385","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303773","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=303773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}