A mere 17 days before he died, Ozzy Osboune sat on his gothic throne adorned with black skulls and bat wings and proclaimed, “Let the madness begin!”
The Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park in Osbourne’s hometown of Birmingham, England, on July 5 2025, was initiated by wife Sharon, who wanted her rock icon of a husband to revel in the roar of the crowd a final time both as a solo star and with his origin band, Black Sabbath.
More than 3 million fans pursued the 44,000 available tickets for a show jammed with hard rock royalty including Metallica, Anthrax, Guns N’ Roses, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Mastodon and Pantera.
A concert documentary, “Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath: Back to the Beginning,” in theaters for a limited time, condenses
the 10-hour marathon of madness into just under 2 ½ hours.
Music director and curator Tom Morello says in one of the film’s backstage glimpses that he didn’t want it “to be like a European metal festival.” Instead, he corralled a few iterations of Tom Morello’s All-Stars (Steven Tyler, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Yungblud, Chad Smith, Nuno Bettencourt, Sammy Hagar, Andrew Watt, Billy Corgan) to shred and blitz through an assortment of Black Sabbath and Osbourne favorites.
A soundtrack from the concert will be released Dec. 11 on CD, vinyl and digitally as well as 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray (pre-orders are available now, as well as Osbourne’s performance of “Mr. Crowley”). A deluxe box set with an expanded track list, memorabilia and a Blu-ray of the 35 Osbourne and Black Sabbath songs performed will be released in April (pre-orders also available now).
Here are some highlights from the film, which will play theaters for a varying number of days dependent of market.
Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath
Obviously the kingpin of this shindig was its namesake. With eyes ringed in raccoon black and sporting a long black coat with a gold armband emblazoned with “Ozzy,” Osbourne clearly absorbed the love and adrenaline of the crowd as he clutched the mic, his left leg swaying as he stayed seated while singing “I Don’t Know.”
While he didn’t always sound robust and the use of a Teleprompter was obvious, Osbourne had a blast as he told the crowd to “go nuts” during “Crazy Train.”
Along with his own songs, Osbourne was reunited for the first time since 2005 with Sabbath mates Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and a shirtless Bill Ward (drums) for a slate of songs including “N.I.B.,” “Paranoid” and “Iron Man,” the latter spurring thousands of metal horns hand signals in the air.
The film ends with Osbourne’s touching “Mama I’m Coming Home,” made all the more poignant by son Jack Osbourne’s voice over paired with vintage footage of him and sister Kelly onstage with Osbourne as kids.
“He felt complete,” Jack said of the joy his father felt after the event, making Osbourne’s July 22, 2025 death no less shocking, but at least more centered.
Yungblud
The British punk rocker has been a favorite of Sharon Osbourne’s – he won his first Grammy this year for his cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” – and it’s easy to see why she views him as a savior of rock.
Calling the invite to perform at the concert “an absolute fever dream,” the charismatic singer, clad in a black suit and tie and hot pink socks, brought theatricality to his rendition of “Changes.” The crowd relished the performance as they sang along mightily with little prompting.
Tom Morello’s All Stars, ‘Bark at the Moon’
The collection of Ghost frontman Papa V Perpetua, guitarists Vernon Reid and Bettencourt, keyboardist Adam Wakeman, bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Barker rip-roared through the 1983 singalong. It’s impossible to look away from Papa V in his ghoulish mask and slick silver jacket. It’s also impossible not to want to break into air guitar just watching Bettencourt and Reid trade riffs.
Danny Carey, Chad Smith, Travis Barker, ‘Symptom of the Universe’
This trio of heavy hitters adds a wallop of a coda to the 1975 Sabbath slammer with spotlight drum solos. With three separate kits set up across the back of the stage, the threesome take turns walloping so hard that Smith’s leg flails in the air.
Tom Morello’s All Stars, ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’
As Barker battered his snare drum to introduce the 1974 Aerosmith classic (by way of jazz and blues musician Tiny Bradshaw in 1951), Tyler, bedecked in his usual flair of trench coat and scarf-adorned mic stand strolled out with trademark swagger.
With Morello, Bettencourt, Wyatt, Sarzo and Wood pumping the strings behind him, Tyler strutted and smiled, even hitting a few impressive high notes as he scampered around the stage with his musical pals.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert hits theaters and ends with a heartbreaking moment
