Black Sabbath

This is it. The final live performance by Ozzy Osbourne and the original line-up of Black Sabbath. Given Ozzy’s ailing health, it doesn’t feel like a No More Tours/No More Tours 2 situation - this is the big one.

40,000 fans pack Villa Park while 5 million of us settle in at home for a ten-hour watch of an unprecedented show from a huge number of legendary bands. Raising £140 million for Acorns Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Cure Parkinson’s, it’s been described as the ‘Metal Live Aid’ but it also feels like a marathon at the Metal Olympics.

The livestream is delayed by a confusing 1hr 45m (it was billed as 2 hours) to accommodate viewers in earlier time zones and, apart from the sound dropping out during Alice in Chains for around 5 minutes, it all works perfectly.

Mastodon kick off with Black Tongue, a storming version of Blood and Thunder and end with a cover of Sabbath all-timer Supernaut, a pattern followed by the other bands on the bill. After that, Rival Sons put their classic rock revival spin on the seminal Electric Funeral and you’re wondering if Sabbath will end up resorting to songs from their unloved era fronted by Tony Martin.

Beyond the occasional Heaven & Hell t-shirt on stage, there’s no mention of Ronnie James Dio or any of the singers who helmed Sabbath in the wilderness years. No one is in any doubt that this is Ozzy’s day - even the livestream is branded ‘OZZY’ rather than Black Sabbath.

Anthrax, Halestorm and Lamb of God keep the momentum going. Anthrax only get two songs but they make the best of it, with frontman Joey Belladonna clearly having a ball. The belting vocals of Lzzy Hale sound like a vintage era Axl Rose (more on him later) and they throw in an unexpected cover of one of my favourite Ozzy solo tracks, Perry Mason. Lamb of God get the first circle pits of the day going, firing through Laid to Rest, Redneck and Children of the Grave, emphasising the song’s timeless message of peace and cooperation before the first supergroup takes to the stage.

There’s rotating cast of musicians including Lzzy Hale, Whitfield Crane, Nuno Bettencourt, Jake E Lee, David Ellefson, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman covering various Ozzy and Sabbath tunes.

Appearing at a show celebrating the band that wrote anti-war anthem War Pigs, David Draiman joins the supergroup on stage to audible boos. I’m sure everyone is bored by Down With The Sickness by now but presumably this is the consequence of him proudly signing Israeli bombs that contributed to the mounting death toll in Gaza (57,645 at the time of writing). His vocals aren’t able to match Ozzy’s on Shot In The Dark and Sweet Leaf.

To my surprise, Yungblud’s cover of Changes was the highlight of this supergroup. His vocals are on point and he gets the crowd engaged in singing along.

During the precise 7 mins between each band, there are charity adverts, video messages from fans and artists (including a hastily rehabilitated Marilyn Manson) and a few pre-recorded songs. By video, a fringe-jump suited Jack Black pops up to do Mr Crowley with a School of Rock-esque band of kids (including the sons of Tom Morello and Scott Ian). Later on, Fred Durst provides another, more mellow acoustic version of Changes.

Alice in Chains and Gojira follow, the latter playing their rendition of French Revolutionary song Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!). This was performed at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics in a rare moment of exposure for extreme metal, and they are also accompanied by mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti here which is a nice surprise. Unfortunately, she’s one of only few women on stage today, the line-up not doing anything to challenge the stereotype of rock and metal as a boy’s club.

A drum-off between Chad Smith, Travis Barker and Danny Carey to Symptom Of The Universe leads into the second, stronger supergroup. Billy Corgan is joined by Judas Priest veteran KK Downing among others, who is still going strong at 73. They launch into Priest classic Breaking the Law and then Sabbath’s Snowblind but the energy is dampened by Sammy Hagar galumphing his way through Ozzy’s Flying High Again and Rock Candy by his pre-Van Halen band Montrose.

Papa V Perpetua from Ghost reels the crowd back on side with an enthusiastic Bark at the Moon, and Steven Tyler keeps the momentum up with The Train Kept A-Rollin’ and a medley of Walk This Way/Whole Lotta Love, including a surprise appearance from Ronnie Wood.

Birmingham is name-checked throughout as the birthplace of metal, but there’s a notable lack of UK bands on the bill and only a handful of UK artists in the supergroups. Some is due to scheduling conflicts (fellow Brummies Judas Priest send a video message from Germany) but, along with musical direction from Tom Morello, you can see the influence of the Osbournes’ long-term residence in America and their touring partners over the decades, as well as the dominance of long-running US bands in the scene generally.

Host for the day and noted metalhead Jason Momoa introduces Pantera as his favourite band before diving into the crowd for Cowboys from Hell and a belligerent Walk. Phil Anselmo looks dour as he plods through their cover of Planet Caravan, which shines on record but sucks all the air out of Villa Park. Their cover of Electric Funeral fares better, followed by a well-received set from Tool.

From the very start of Guns N’ Roses set, it’s clear that Axl Rose’s vocals are not up to scratch and we gradually learn his timing isn’t either. The band sound incredible but unfortunately this just highlights Axl’s poor performance. The beginning of Welcome to the Jungle makes me spit my beer out, the Mickey Mouse vocals neutering this once threatening song.

Either side of Guns N’ Roses are two metal heavyweights, Slayer and Metallica, and I can’t deny that my enthusiasm for both has waned over the years. While they get the crowd going with solid-gold classics like Raining Blood, For Whom The Bell Tolls and Angel of Death - as well as an interesting mashup of Sabbath’s Wicked World and South of Heaven - it feels a bit like they’re going through the motions. Master of Puppets reminds us of the glory days before Metallica Plc. Everyone is older now of course, but they just seem so tired and you’d be mistaken for thinking they were performing their final shows too.

Both bands are technically great and they’re well received by the crowd, inspiring circle pits and singalongs. The only misstep is the baffling choice by Metallica to trudge through Johnny Blade from Sabbath’s little-loved Never Say Die.

The relentless pace throughout the day meant there was no time to notice the delay in the livestream. However, the gaps before and between Ozzy and Sabbath are longer and it was difficult not to get frustrated watching repeats of the fan videos from hours ago and clips of previous bands, while messages flooded in from friends now leaving the venue. They could have easily cut an hour of this dead time to speed up the stream as it finished around 1am for UK viewers.

There was an upspoken fear during the preceding eight hours that the Ozzy and Sabbath sets won’t be able to deliver on the anticipation that’s been building all day. No one is quite sure about Ozzy’s health and what kind of performances to expect.

Ozzy ascends from beneath the stage on a black leather throne adorned with bat carvings to roars from Villa Park, his face beaming, clearly thrilled at the reception. ‘You’ve got no fucking idea what this means to me’ he shouts, asking the crowd for even more noise.

Any rumours about how ‘bad’ he is are immediately dispelled when he starts off with I Don’t Know and he sounds 100% unmistakably like Ozzy. He can’t quite hit the same ethereal wail that he used to but nit-picking aside, he’s in fine voice and his timing is bang-on. Although he doesn’t move from his throne, he’s still animated, getting the crowd clapping and swaying along. Mr Crowley and Suicide Solution lead to an emotional Mama, I’m Coming Home, with tearful fans in the crowd and at least one at home. He closes his solo set with Crazy Train, a fittingly manic end to this section.

Following another extended gap, the original Black Sabbath line-up take to the stage to the opening notes of Black Sabbath, the first bona fide heavy metal song, playing over the PA. The message of War Pigs has sadly always been relevant and feels particularly resonant right now, Tony Iommi’s colossal opening riff and air raid sirens conjuring up the horror of war. Ozzy’s voice starts to flag slightly, the previous five songs clearly taking their toll, but the crowd fills in any gaps. A spry Geezer Butler proves he’s still got it during the opening bass solo of N.I.B. before the biggest one-two punch in metal history: Iron Man followed by Paranoid.

I have to praise the organisers for making this final Ozzy/Sabbath show a) happen at all and b) an undeniable success. However, the rest of the line-up felt quite samey and - dare I say - safe?

For all metal prides itself on challenging the status quo, the established ‘apolitical’ position was observed throughout. Beyond a few cryptic nods and the well-deserved booing, there were no political messages and no explicit support for anyone or anything (of course, it’s an inherently political choice to do this). Having recently attended Outbreak festival in Manchester, I reckon that crowd would have dismantled the venue after a video message from Ricky Gervais.

When they started, Black Sabbath weren’t just innovators, they were true transgressors with their sound. Their wholehearted embrace of darkness, horror and misery inadvertently kickstarted not just an entire genre but endless subgenres. It would have been a true tribute to acknowledge the breadth of their influence over the decades, rather than, for example, inviting three of the ‘Big Four’ of thrash metal to play.

There’s a parallel universe where this send-off included the biggest names from the huge variety of thriving subgenres. Birmingham grindcore legends Napalm Death could open, bin off Slayer or Metallica for Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, get Cannibal Corpse in there, Abbath/Immortal to bring the black metal blizzard, Slipknot or Limp Bizkit to represent the nu- era, get Sabbath-worshipping stoners Sleep, Nine Inch Nails to cover the industrial side and Ghost for some campy theatrics.

A bit more dangerous perhaps but I doubt they’d have trouble selling out Villa Park. And would it be any more controversial than appearances by edgelords and genuine wrong ‘uns Marilyn Manson, Ricky Gervais, David Draiman and Phil Anselmo? I’d rather have I Cum Blood than I Sign Missiles.