Unseen vintage snaps show Black Sabbath in very different light
It is now just three weeks until Black Sabbath will be back in Birmingham for a special final hurrah.
The band - led by Ozzy Osbourne - are synonymous with the city and have lots of fond memories there. And these photos from the Mirror archives are a trip down memory lane to the fun they have already had.
They are part of a new magazine which offers intimate shots at home with Ozzy and the Osbournes and a chance to relive the band's past glory. You can witness Sabbath at their rawest, their wildest, and their most iconic.
Both Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne invited the Mirror to their homes in the late Seventies. The band were riding high with success and their lavish new pads were a far cry from where they were brought up close to Villa Park, where the final gig takes place.
The band formed in 1968 and all four members - Ozzy, Tony, Terry 'Geezer' Butler on bass and drummer Bill Ward were from what was dubbed a low-income blue-collar factory worker neighbourhood of Aston in Birmingham.
Tony posed in a plush living room whilst Ozzy could be seen with an ammunition belt around him and breaking open his double-barrelled shotgun. He was known to have had an interest in guns, particularly air rifles, during the 1970s.
The band also larked about in some water for other shots messing about on the river in the scenic Wye Valley. Ozzy and bandmate Geezer Butler would end up getting a soaking.
The cover of Black Sabbath's 1970 debut album, Black Sabbath, also features a striking image of a woman in a black cloak standing in front of a 15th-century watermill, Mapledurham Watermill, situated on the River Thames in Oxfordshire.
These photos and dozens more are included in a special magazine Black Sabbath - End Of An Era, which we have published to coincide with the final Sabbath show. It also features a special gig two decades later when the band were back in Brum again for a special hometown show.
The NEC Arena was the venue for Black Sabbath's return to their home city, with Ozzy back as the frontman. They played two nights of monumental performances, marking a significant moment in their storied career.
The weather was freezing in the lead up to the Birmingham gigs in December 1999, but once the band were on stage things heated up fast. One fan on a Black Sabbath fans site called Dave Inman recalled the December 21 show: "Ozzy was in first class form and I've not heard him as good for years."
He also told how during Paranoid the NEC had all the covers ripped off the seats and used as frisbees. The night then ended with fireworks and smoke to mark the end of an era.
Tickets for the gigs were £24.75 and support acts included System Of A Down. On the second night of the shows there was a special bonus as Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill appeared mid-set to perform Snowblind together with System Of A Down during their support slot —a spontaneous collaboration that left both bands and the audience in awe.
Despite the previous success, there are concerns around the upcoming show when Ozzy and Black Sabbath will headline their final gig on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, as part of an event titled Back To The Beginning with a host of other metal bands playing too.
This show will reunite the original band members – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward – for the first time in 20 years. The band played its "last" gig in 2017 in Birmingham with Osborne, guitarist Iommi and bassist Butler, but without Ward on drums.
But last year Ozzy was not well enough to perform at the band's Rock'N'Roll Hall Of Fame inauguration in America. In a new interview ahead of the show Tony admitted he has "excitement mixed with fear' ahead of the show, whilst he also confirmed rehearsals are due to start this month.
He said: 'This would be a big, monumental thing if it all comes good. The worrying thing for me is the unknown. We don't know what's going to happen. Normally, when we'd tour, we'd rehearse and run through the thing for a while, and it's just us. But with this event there are so many other moving parts.'
He added: "You're used to Ozzy running around, but he certainly won't be doing that for this show. I don't know if he's going to be standing or sitting on a throne or what.'
Tony and Ozzy have exchanged setlist wishlists, which will be consolidated in due course when they meet up in person. Speaking to Music Week, Tony said: 'Once we start playing, then we'll know we're doing it.
'It's always a worry, even when we did tours before, there's always that build-up, and then it gets to the point that we do it and it's OK.'
Ozzy, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, told last month how he has been having physical therapy and training with a trainer virtually living with him in Los Angeles in a bid to get him fit enough to perform on stage after a catalogue of illnesses.
Ozzy's wife Sharon said: 'Ozzy's working with his therapist every single day. He's doing really well, actually. Ozzy's number one thing in life is his fans, so he's working hard to be ready for them, to make this show the perfect way to end things.'
In May, Ozzy admitted he is suffering huge self confidence and stage fright issues ahead of his summer UK farewell show - but has vowed 'to give 120 percent'.
Speaking on his own radio show in America he said: 'My head's crazy. ADHD - I have that badly.
'I will have done the show and died a death before I even started my exercises. So I try and put it on the back burner.
'I'm not going up there saying 'It's going to be great. I'm really confident.' 'In my head I will have died on my ass. I remember being in f***ing Vegas one time being in the dressing room going, 'I'm going to play. I'm going to die.'
'And I talked myself into blowing the gig. It was only two f***ing songs.
'Sharon goes, 'just don't think about it.'
'But all I can say is I'm giving 120%. If my God wants me to do the show. I'll do it. Sometimes if I start obsessing on the time, I'll be insane by Friday. So I'm just taking it one day at a time.'
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