Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath both played their final shows today (July 5th) in their hometown of Birmingham, UK, at the star-studded Back to the Beginning show. The eight-hour-plus event boasted a historic lineup of famous fans and friends assembled by Music Director Tom Morello, who promised “the greatest heavy-metal show ever.”
Amazingly, the show arguably lived up to that seemingly impossibly billing, with Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Lamb of God and other heavyweights playing electric mini-sets, each including a Sabbath cover, while a rotating supergroup — billed as “Tom Morello’s All Stars” and featuring members of Disturbed, Smashing Pumpkins, Ghost, Sleep Token and many more — performed a variety of rock and metal classics, leaning hard into the Ozzy canon. The Prince of Darkness — singing seated in a black, bat-winged throne — played the penultimate set, while Sabbath closed the night in triumphant fashion.
For those unable to make it in person, the concert was livestreamed at backtothebeginning.com and included pre-recorded messages delivered by everyone from Elton John and Dolly Parton to Jonathan Davis and Ricky Gervais, as well as everyday, non-celebrity fans, who shared heartfelt tributes to Ozzy and Sabbath.
Such a power-packed event was of course full of highlights, but what were the top moments? We watched the whole show (yes, our eyes and ear have been bleeding ever since), and here are 13 of our favorites.
1. The all-star drum circle during Mastodon’s cover of “Supernaut”
Mastodon seemingly drew the shortest straw and took on the first slot at the show. But Atlanta’s finest were up to the task and then some. After banging through two originals, “Black Tongue” and “Blood and Thunder,” the band paid tribute to Sabbath with a mighty cover of “Supernaut” complete with not one, not two, but three guest percussionists — Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande, Gojira’s Mario Duplantier and TOOL’s Danny Carey — for an epic Sepultura-style drum circle.
2. Lamb of God’s heavy AF cover of “Children of the Grave”
We were wondering if Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe would be singing or screaming during his band’s Sabbath cover; as if turns out, the answer was both. LOG’s rendition of “Children of the Grave” opened with grizzled sung vocals before Blythe kicked into his signature roar, while the band chunked up the song into a full-on thrash rager. Stalking the stage and bursting with energy, Blythe fell on his ass after one leap, but the tumble only served to underline how wonderfully unhinged LOG’s performance was. As an extra underline, after their three-song set, Blythe threw his surely sweat-logged shoes into the crowd — pity the fans who caught them.
3. Jake E. Lee’s “rock star” entrance
When the first incarnation of “Tom Morello’s All Stars” — including Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt and more — took the stage, former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee was missing, leading Hale to ask, “Anyone see Jake E. Lee?” and start a “Jake! Jake!” chant. After a few awkward moments, Lee finally walked out and was met by Bettencourt with a “we’re not worthy” bow. “Now that’s how you make a rock star entrance,” the Extreme shredder joked, before the supergroup launched into a ripping rendition of Ozzy’s “Ultimate Sin.” What made Lee’s appearance feel all the more victorious was the fact that he survived a shooting just last October.
4. YUNGBLUD goes through “Changes”
Another formation of the “All Stars” featured Sleep Token’s II on drums and, on the mic, alt-pop star and Ozzy friend YUNGBLUD. While arguably the “least metal” participant in the Back to the Beginning festivities, YUNGBLUD absolutely nailed his version of Sabbath’s “Changes,” showcasing powerful and emotive pipes in one of the best vocal performances of the day.
5. Jack Black takes “Mr. Crowley” to the School of Rock
In a pre-recorded segment, Jack Black rocked his best Ozzy fringe shirt and frolicked through an absolutely hysterical rendition of “Mr. Crowley” backed by a teen band including Tom Morello’s son Roman and Scott Ian’s son Revel, on guitar and bass, respectively. While Black chewed the scenery in gut-busting style, the junior Morello displayed prodigious, Randy Rhoads-esque chops, leading Black to pick up the young guitarist in a hilariously triumphant reenactment of the iconic image of Ozzy lifting Rhoads onstage in 1982.
6. Gojira’s Olympic reunion
Gojira’s all-too-short set at Back to the Beginning included originals “Stranded” and “Silveria” and a cover of Sabbath’s Vol. 4 standout “Under the Sun.” But the highlight was their performance of “Mea culpa (Ah! Ça ira!),” the song the French metal titans first unleashed at the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Paris last summer. There, they were joined by mezzo soprano Marina Viotti, and she rejoined them onstage in Birmingham, showcasing not only her skyscraping voice but also her enthusiastic headbanging skills, bringing new life to the historic opera-metal crossover.
7. Papa V Perpetua barks at the moon
Fronting another incarnation of “Tom Morello’s All Stars” — comprised of blink-182’s Travis Barker, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid and more — Ghost’s latest vocalist Papa V Perpetua brought his band’s typical sense of humor and drama to the Back to the Beginning stage with a theatrical cover of Ozzy’s “Bark at the Moon.” “Are you ready to rock?! Are you ready to burn?!” he exhorted the crowd before the song. He then turned to his bandmates and softly muttered, “I think they’re ready to rock.” Indeed they were, and so was Papa himself.
8. Steven Tyler gets the Led out
The “All Stars” welcomed Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler onboard for three songs, and the Demon of Screamin’ delivered in a big way. Backed by Bettencourt, Tom Morello, Andrew Watt, Rudy Sarzo and Chad Smith, Tyler segued from a rowdy “Train Kept A-Rollin’ (with the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood) and “Walk This Way” into a pitch-perfect rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” The singer might be 77, but he can still put most other rock singers to shame, and judging from this scene-stealing performance in Birmingham, Aerosmith — unlike the now-retired Black Sabbath — might be able to get back in the saddle again.
9. Aquaman dives into the Pantera pit
As Jason Momoa admitted in his opening statement, the actor accepted the hosting gig at Back to the Beginning mostly just to get into the show. The dude is a legit metalhead, and he proved his bona fides during Pantera’s set. After a fistbump with Philip Anselmo, Momoa had to step away — or rather, walk away — from his hosting duties to scale the barricade and jump into the mosh pit as the Texas power-groove heroes kicked off their performance with “Cowboys From Hell.” He would later crowdsurf out, just like a proper fan.
10. TOOL’s whole damn set
Many fans raised their eyebrows when the Back to the Beginning set times leaked online revealing only 20 minutes allotted for TOOL. “That’s two songs” was a common thought. Three, actually — but what a three. Playing “Forty Six & 2,” “Ænema” and a grim, psychedelic cover of “Hand of Doom” that made the Sabbath classic all their own, TOOL were tight, concise (like they rarely are anymore) and intense, with bassist Justin Chancellor shaking his sunglasses off his head during the climax of their last song and quaking, eyes rolled back, like a man possessed. Our vote for the best non-Ozzy-or-Sabbath set of the day.
11. Tom Araya smiling throughout Slayer’s set
Did anyone (other than Ozzy) have more fun at Back to the Beginning than Tom Araya? The Slayer frontman seemed to be on the verge of cracking up throughout the thrash legends’ six-song set. Not that their performance was anything to laugh at — they opened with the ferocious “Disciple” and closed with the all-time one-two punch of “Raining Blood” and “Angel of Death” — but Araya was clearly enjoying himself, judging form his frequent wide smiles and wry smirks, and his amusement was contagious.
12. So many more tears during “Mama, I’m Coming Home”
Rising up from under the stage on his gothic throne, Ozzy Osbourne sounded great during his five-song solo set and was clearly having the time of his life after years of medical setbacks and cancelled tours. All the emotion of his return to the stage/farewell show came to a head during the performance of “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” Simply put, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house — or in the homes of those watching the livestream.
13. Black Fucking Sabbath
Simply put, Black Sabbath were majestic and magical: Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, all riveting separately in their own ways and together as a groundbreaking unit. If these four songs — “War Pigs,” “N.I.B.,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” — really marked Black Sabbath’s final show ever, what a way to go out. But the band’s OG lineup (this was Sabbath’s first show with Ward in 20 years) sounded so good, so heavy, so eternally relevant, it’s hard to comprehend that this was really their last time onstage together. Even Ozzy seemed in disbelief as he said before “Paranoid”: “Unfortunately, this is the last song of the… uh, forever.” This one will take a while to sink in. Black Sabbath is dead, long live Black Sabbath.