Black Sabbath † Ozzy Osbourne - Back to the Beginning Villa Park, Aston, Birmingham – July 5th, 2025

It begins exactly where it had to: Aston, Birmingham, under grey English skies and the weight of heavy history. Back to the Beginning captures a once-in-eternity moment, preserved as a raw and powerful soundboard recording of the final performances by Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. This is not nostalgia for sale – this is legacy carved in stone and feedback.

 

Villa Park stands only a few miles from the streets where Sabbath first bent blues into something darker back in 1968. On this night, the original lineup reunites one last time: Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – together again after two decades. Four men who didn’t just invent heavy metal, but gave it a soul, a shadow and a pulse.

 

Ozzy, seated on a throne due to advanced Parkinson’s, commands the stage without ever pretending to be invincible. His voice is fragile, fierce, unmistakably his. Every line feels like a confession, every scream like a victory over time itself. Knowing this would be his final bow – just 17 days before his passing – adds gravity, but never turns the performance into mourning. This is a celebration of survival.

 

Sabbath sound massive and alive. Iommi’s riffs still fall like black rain, Geezer’s bass rumbles with prophetic weight, and Bill Ward swings with that loose, jazzy menace no one else ever mastered. Doom, psych and heavy blues bleed together naturally – no polish, no compromise.

 

Ozzy’s solo set completes the picture: stripped of myth and excess, revealing a performer defined by resilience, charisma and an unbreakable bond with his audience.

 

Raising £140 million for children’s hospitals and Parkinson’s research, the night turned darkness into light. Back to the Beginning is the end that proves why it all mattered – and why it will never truly be over.

 

-Helge Neumann