Why tens of thousands of fans flocked to Birmingham for Black Sabbath's last ever concert
But then they, like all of the biggest names in heavy metal, were in Birmingham's Villa Park last night specifically for the headliners.
Black Sabbath is more than just a band to Brummies. And so, fans from all over the city and indeed fans from all over the world converged in Birmingham yesterday for the very last time that the band, in their original lineup, will play.
Their legendary lead singer Ozzy Osbourne is not expected to perform live again, but this day-long festival for charities, including Cure Parkinsons, was reason enough for the band who have not performed together in two decades, to give the fans one final star-studded bow-out.
The stadium was packed from early on in the day to see the likes of Guns N' Roses, Slayer, and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler perform short sets, including a track by Ozzy as a solo artist or Sabbath the band.
'Without Sabbath,' announced James Hetfield from Metallica, 'there would be no Metallica'.
That was a sentiment announced time after time by the acts who were here to pay tribute to the founders of heavy metal.
The four original band members Ozzt, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, grew up in the Aston area so this was very much a homecoming.
It was all loud. Very loud - particularly when Ozzy took to the stage seated on a throne which the so-called Prince of Darkness somehow carried off with aplomb.
It was hard and emotional to see him unable to run around the stage as he used to do before bouts of illness, including Parkinson's disease, which started to have an impact.
He looked visibly emotional as he addressed the crowd and it was clear that this moment meant a huge amount to him.
His voice was mostly fantastic, he has one of the most distinctive vocals in rock music, in truth. The crowd sang along to every track.
The rest of the band, led by Tony Iommi's distinctive guitar and some of the greatest rock riffs ever created, were incredibly tight.
It was hard to believe that they had not performed together in so long but they could have just walked on stage and done nothing, such was the sense of expectation and love in the audience.
There were tears as people left, knowing that this would not be repeated. The headbangers have many other metal bands to follow, but they knew they had just said farewell to the group who started it all off, and produced a genre which is more like a religion to its followers.
A triumphant, emotional and very loud night.
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