Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath to play closing present in Birmingham

Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are reuniting for one final time, to play a fund-raising live performance in Birmingham on 5 July.

The heavy metallic pioneers will headline a spectacular one-day pageant at Villa Park, that includes dozens of bands they impressed, together with Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Gojira and Anthrax.

The live performance will mark the primary time that Black Sabbath’s unique line-up – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Invoice Ward – have performed collectively in 20 years.

Osbourne, who has largely been compelled to cease touring because of a mixture of Parkinson’s and spinal accidents, will play a brief solo set earlier than becoming a member of his bandmates.

His comeback was introduced at Villa Park by his spouse, Sharon, and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi.

Rage In opposition to The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who’s serving because the occasion’s musical director, mentioned it could be “the best heavy metallic present ever”.

Proceeds from the present will help Remedy Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Youngsters’s Hospital and Acorn Youngsters’s Hospice, a Youngsters’s Hospice supported by Aston Villa.

Different acts on the line-up embody Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Lamb Of God and Mastodon.

As well as, the live performance will characteristic a “supergroup”, with stars like Billy Corgan, Slash, Fred Durst, Wolfgang Van Halen and Tom Morello. Though not confirmed, it’s possible that some visitor stars will fill in for Osbourne throughout Black Sabbath’s set.

The band, who fashioned in Birmingham in 1968, beforehand performed a farewell present to a bought out viewers of 16,000 individuals on the metropolis’s NEC Enviornment in 2017.

The set consisted primarily of songs from their early days – together with Struggle Pigs, N.I.B and Black Sabbath – earlier than ending on their breakthrough hit and signature music, Paranoid.

The live performance got here on the finish of an in depth, 81-date world tour, and Osbourne thanked the followers for his or her help over the band’s profession.

“I’ve acquired to let you know one thing, what a journey we have all had,” he mentioned.

“We began this in 1968 and now it is 2017 – I do not imagine that, man. However what? We would not survive if it wasn’t for the fan base. So should you’re a veteran fan, nice. If you happen to’re new, welcome. However I can not let you know sufficient how grateful we’re on your help.”

Following that live performance, Osbourne launched two solo albums – Odd Man and Affected person Quantity 9. Nonetheless, he suffered a spinal harm in 2019 after a crash involving an ATV, requiring intensive surgical procedure.

The identical yr, he was identified with Parkinson’s and largely stepped again from touring after taking part in the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Video games in 2022.

Nonetheless, he not too long ago instructed Rolling Stone UK of his want to return to the stage.

“I am taking it at some point at a time, and if I can carry out once more, I’ll,” he mentioned. “However it’s been like saying farewell to the very best relationship of my life.”

He added: “I am not going to rise up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy on the lookout for sympathy. What is the [expletive] level in that? I am not going up there in a [expletive] wheelchair.”