Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final concert event was a huge success. So much so, it just broke a major record. The Back to the Beginning festival — which featured the legendary metal band’s oribgal linoeup all performing together on dstage for the last time — is now the highest grossing charity concert of all-time.
Billboard has confirmed that the event raised over $190 million, surpassing Live Aid (1985), FireAid (2025), and Hope for Haiti Now (2010) by a lot. Notably, all proceeds from Back to the Beginning will be distributed between three worthy causes: Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorn Children’s Hospice, and Cure Parkinson’s. See a comparison chart below:
- Back to the Beginning (2025): $190 million
- FireAid (2025): Over $100 million
- Live Aid (1985): Approximately $100 million
- Farm Aid (since 1985): Over $80 million
- Hope For Haiti (2010): $57 million
On July 5, Fans ascended on Villa Park, Birmingham, for the Back To The Beginning festival, which has been called “the greatest heavy metal show ever.” It was the absolute last time that Ozzy Osbourne and the original lineup of Black Sabbath performed together live.
“Birmingham is a city which means so much to Ozzy,” said Ozzy’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne. “When it comes to heavy metal music, Black Sabbath forming and his love of Aston Villa — it all started here.”
In addition to seeing the legendary heavy metal godfathers, fans in attendance at the Back To The Beginning concert also got to see performances from epic bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, and 2025 Grammy-winners Gojira.
The concert wasn’t done to make a profit, and all of the participating artists — including Metallica, Slayer, and Pantera — did so for free. Metal Sucks noted that, while raising almost $200 million for charity from the event is a major accomplishment, the eye-opening part realy is that the math works out to meaning that the livestream generated upwards of $150 million, at $30 a ticket.