Everything To Know About Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne's Final Show

Forbes

6 hours ago

Black Sabbath, 1970: Bill Ward, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler in , (Photo by Chris ... More Walter/WireImage)
Back to the Beginning – Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's final farewell concert – is kicking off in less than 24 hours. On Saturday July 5th, the one day festival set in the band's hometown of Birmingham, England, will showcase performances from just about every iconic heavy metal band and musician under the sun, including Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Slayer, Alice In Chains, TOOL, Gojira and so many more. Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne will cap off the evening with their final performances, though the length of their sets might be shorter than what concertgoers are expecting.
How Many Songs Will Black Sabbath And Ozzy Osbourne Perform?
In an interview with rock icon Sammy Hagar, Ozzy Osbourne stated that he'd be performing 'little bits and pieces" at Back to the Beginning. According to Hagar, Osbourne is planning to perform five songs from his solo material with one of those songs being his epic, 'No More Tears.' Hagar apparently will be performing Osbourne's hit 'Flying High Again' as well.
While there's nothing that's been made public with regards to set times, given the state of Osbourne's health, him performing at least five songs with Black Sabbath and his solo material seems reasonable. However, that's not to say that there will only be five Sabbath and five Ozzy songs performed. With the sheer number of guest musicians appearing at Back to the Beginning, there's likely to be a plethora of Sabbath and Ozzy songs performed by several iconic rock and metal musicians, possibly even with members of Black Sabbath and former members of Ozzy Osbourne's solo career.
Zakk Wylde and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee will be making an appearance, so fans will most definitely be treated to multiple eras of Ozzy Osbourne's solo material. It's also likely that many of the bands performing will cover Sabbath or Ozzy material, particularly Metallica, Guns N' Roses, and Pantera who have a history of covering Black Sabbath.
How Long Will Each Act Play For?
Including Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath there at least 13 full bands slated to perform at Back to the Beginning. This isn't including the several dozens of guest musicians that are also on the bill. With that in mind, the show will kick off at 12pm BST and it's expected to go into the late evening. It's difficult to measure the exact length each band will play, but it'd be a safe bet to say there will be between 30 and 50 minute set times, with the latter given to the bigger acts like Metallica and Guns N' Roses.
It's also said there will be a rotating stage, where essentially one half of the stage will be utilized for setting up the next act, while the other half will be used for whomever is currently performing. This will make changeover times way more efficient and possibly give acts more time to perform than what fans are expecting.
There are apparently bands that are booked for Back to the Beginning that haven't yet been revealed. According to festival promoter Andy Coping, 'there's a couple of acts that have confirmed but not been announced yet.' If this is the case, then it's even more difficult to gauge what set times will actually look like, furthermore who these unannounced acts could be.
Seeing that three out of four of thrash metal's Big Four is booked (Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax), it's entirely possible Megadeth could be one of the unannounced acts. Regardless of the Big Four, they're one of the only bands missing that seems odd given their significance to the metal genre, especially in the '80s and '90s.
Where to Watch Back To The Beginning
Initially when it was announced, Back to the Beginning was only going to be a live in-person event. However, given the huge demand for the concert, the entire one-day festival will be live streamed via Mercury Studios and Kiswe. The livestream will be delayed by 2-hours from the in-arena start time and will be starting at 3pm BST. Tickets for the livestream are priced at $29.99 and can be purchased here.