The original Black Sabbath lineup — Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward — will reunite for a final show on July 5th at Villa Park in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England. The all-star bill will also feature an Ozzy solo set, Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, and many of the other biggest names in heavy metal and rock music.
The rest of the lineup will include Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, and Mastodon, making for one of the biggest metal gatherings of all time. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 14th, at 10am local time.
The concert — dubbed “Back to the Beginning” — will mark Black Sabbath’s first show since they wrapped up their farewell tour in February 2017 (although that outing did not include Bill Ward). Meanwhile, Ozzy hasn’t played a full show since the end of 2018, after a series of health setbacks forced him to postpone and eventually cancel the remainder of his own farewell tour.
“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning….time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Ozzy stated. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”
Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello will serve as musical director of the concert, noting, “This will be the greatest heavy metal show ever.”
In addition to the aforementioned acts, the all-day music event will also feature Morello, Billy Corgan, David Draiman, Duff McKagan and Slash, Fred Durst, Jonathan Davis, Jake E. Lee, KK Downing, Mike Bordin, Rudy Sarzo, Sammy Hagar, Sleep Token’s II, Ghost’s Papa V Perpetua, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Zakk Wylde, with more to be announced shortly.
This is a developing story…