Ozzy Osbourne has waited for his ‘final bow.’ Black Sabbath will be there when it happens

Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness, is ready for a heavy-metal sendoff after facing issues with his health in recent years.

The rocker and “Osbournes” reality TV personality, 76, announced Wednesday that he is set to take his “final bow” in the summer — and he won’t be alone when he does so. Osbourne and fellow Black Sabbath founding members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward will reunite to play on stage for the first time in 20 years as headliners for Back to the Beginning, a heavy metal fest set for July 5 in Villa Park of the band’s native Birmingham, England.

“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning….time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne said Wednesday. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”

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Back to the Beginning attendees will get a double helping of Osbourne, who will play a short solo set before joining Black Sabbath for his final performance. In recent years, various health issues got in the way of his live performance opportunities. The Grammy-winning rocker, who went public about his Parksinson’s disease diagnosis in 2020, dropped out of several shows in 2023 citing his health.

In February 2023, Osbourne announced his retirement from touring and canceled upcoming stops on his No More Tours II farewell circuit. He told fans at the time he was “not physically capable” of dealing with the travel that came with touring. He seemingly walked back any retirement talk a month later and reassured listeners on SiriusXM‘s “Ozzy’s Boneyard” that he is “not dying.”

“The only thing I’ve got that keeps me going is making records, but I can’t do that forever,” he said at the time. “I’ve got to get out there, you know?”

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In July 2023 Osbourne also pulled out from heavy-metal festival Power Trip telling fans “my body is telling me that I’m just not ready yet.” For a November 2023 interview with Rolling Stone UK, Osbourne said he was taking life “one day at a time” and said he hoped to get back on stage — but only if he could perform to his fullest.

“I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, ‘Hi, guys thanks so much for my life,’” he told the magazine. “That’s what I’m working towards, and if I drop dead at the end of it, I’ll die a happy man.”

Clearly, Osbourne has been waiting for an opportunity like Back to the Beginning.

Highlighting the “true creators of heavy metal,” the one-day fest will also feature performances by Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Gojira, Halestorm, Lamb of God and other rock groups. The Smashing Pumpkin’s Billy Corgan, Korn’s Jonathan Davis and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst are among the artists also on the lineup. The full list of current performers can be found on Black Sabbath’s Instagram and X pages.

Ticket sales begin Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. GMT on the Live Nation UK website. Proceeds will benefit charities Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice.