Ozzy Osbourne has confirmed that Black Sabbath’s appearance at his upcoming Back To The Beginning farewell show will be their last.
This isn’t the first time Sabbath have announced a farewell gig. The band played what was billed as their final show on February 4, 2017 at the Birmingham NEC at the culmination of The End tour. Before that, there were ‘farewell’ shows in 1999, and 2005.
But speaking exclusively in the brand new issue of Classic Rock, Ozzy says that the all-star Back To The Beginning show, which takes place at Villa Park in Birmingham on July 5, 2005, will definitively bring the curtain down on his own career as a performer, as well as that of Sabbath.
“It’s very important,” says Ozzy of the Back To The Beginning show. “The original Sabbath will never be on stage together again. From the late 60s, we’re probably one of the only bands where the original members are still alive and speaking with one another.”
The Back To The Beginning show is headlined by Ozzy, who will play a short set before joining Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for a short set of their own. It will be the first time the band’s original line-up has played together in almost 20 years, with Ward stepping back from a 2012 reunion following a contract dispute.
The surprise news of the Back To The Beginning gig earlier in 2025 came two years after Ozzy announced that he was retiring performing live following several years of health issues and physical injuries. The bill for the show also features Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Slayer, Alice In Chains and several more big-name bands.
Speaking in the new issue of Classic Rock, Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi admits he was reluctant to play another Sabbath show seven years after The End tour.
“I’d already closed the door on it,” he says. “I thought that [The End tour] was it.”
Iommi he was convinced to do it by the fact that profits would be going to three charities, Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice, plus the presence of Bill Ward, whose place was taken by drummer Tommy Clufetos on Sabbath’s last two tours.
“There’d be no point [doing it without Ward],” says Iommi. “Because it’s the original line-up, that makes it more proper. So no, I wouldn’t have done it without the original line-up.”
Speaking to Classic Rock, Ward himself says he is overjoyed to be reuniting with his old bandmates. “My job is to play my ass off,” he says. “That’s what I do. No slight on other people, but I’m the drummer with Black Sabbath. Always have been, always will be.”
Read the full interview in the brand new issue of Classic Rock, onsale on May 23.
