{"id":35148,"date":"2025-07-03T11:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T11:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35148\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T11:21:16","slug":"ozzy-osbourne-makes-emotional-statement-ahead-of-black-sabbath-farewell-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35148\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne makes emotional statement ahead of Black Sabbath farewell show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> has said his farewell show in Birmingham with Black Sabbath <\/a>\u201cmeans everything\u201d to him, as he views the massive Villa Park<\/a> gig as his \u201cfinal encore\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Prince of Darkness will say goodbye to his fans with the original Black Sabbath lineup on Saturday (5 July). The band will be joined by a number of other heavy metal legends, including Metallica, Alice in Chains<\/a>, Lamb of God, and Tom Morello.<\/p>\n

In a Q&A with communications agency Premier Comms, Osbourne, 76, said the show, titled Back to the Beginning<\/a>, was a chance to \u201csay thank you to my fans for always supporting me and being there for me\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn’t have done my final show anywhere else,\u201d he said of playing the gig in his hometown of Birmingham. \u201cI had to go back to the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osbourne also said that he was surprised by how many people had contacted him about livestreaming the concert, which had not been in the original plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed a great chance for people who didn’t have the opportunity to get a ticket to be able to see the show,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The livestream of Back to the Beginning will be delayed by two hours from the in-arena start time, and will begin at 3pm BST. The stream will open 30 minutes prior to launching. Tickets are available to purchase here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Playing at Villa Park is particularly significant for him, Osbourne said, as he used to go to the venue with his friends on Saturdays when a football match was being hosted and ask people \u201cfor a shilling to watch their car\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Previous<\/p>\n

Previous unseen photo of Black Sabbath enjoying a pint in a beer garden (Press)<\/p>\n

Asked about what the formidable lineup meant to him, the musician remarked: \u201cIt means everything, I am forever in their debt for showing up for me and the fans. I can\u2019t quite put it into words, but I feel very emotional and blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded: \u201cIt\u2019s a goodbye as far as my live performances go, and what a way to go out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Independent this week<\/a>, Alice in Chains\u2019 bassist Mike Inez spoke of how hearing Black Sabbath for the first time \u201cchanged his life\u201d, as he recalled auditioning to be in Osbourne\u2019s solo band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all surreal to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember showing up \u2013 I was wearing a ratty LA Kings hockey jersey and jeans, and everyone else in there was in leather. So in my head I was thinking, \u2018OK, I\u2019m never getting this f***ing gig, so I\u2019m just gonna have a good time with it, and be able to say I got to play \u2018Crazy Train\u2019 with Ozzy one time.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle did I know I was going to get it, and then my whole life trajectory was going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Some of the biggest names in metal are gathering in Birmingham to pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Metallica\u2019s Rob Trujillo added: \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be part of this, to be able to show my love and respect for Black Sabbath, because it\u2019s safe to say a lot of us wouldn\u2019t be playing the music that we play if it wasn\u2019t for that band.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be sharing this stage with Ozzy, thinking back to the days when I played backyard parties and barbecues, and to still be friends with them, it\u2019s a blessing. This is a huge, historical, monumental experience that we\u2019re going to have on this day in Birmingham.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full feature here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ozzy Osbourne has said his farewell show in Birmingham with Black Sabbath \u201cmeans everything\u201d to him, as he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[8828,29032,171,29035,29033,29034,975,16513,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-35148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-alice-in-chains","9":"tag-birmingham","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-final-show","12":"tag-lamb-of-god","13":"tag-metallica","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-ozzy-osbourne","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114789042426613730","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}