July 5 had finally rolled around, and it was finally happening. Metal and rock fans from around the world had descended not in LA, not in New York, and not in London, but in Birmingham. To be sure, Birmingham is hardly the center of show business, but it is where heavy metal was born, and this ordinary city was going to be completely transformed for Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s final ever shows.
The coming together of the metal community is always a special meeting. You see it at festivals, we have all experienced it. But today felt different. Today, we were going to visit a venue that held about one tenth of the event that we were going to witness. Villa Park, the soccer stadium, can only hold 45,000, and this was a show that could have well drawn in half a million. Possibly more, of course, if travel was not an option, as we learned that another 5.5 million people had paid for the stream of the show. The lucky few that had made it here, including me, of course, had a smile wider than the UK when we entered the stadium- we had arrived, we were here, and you got the sense that you had witnessed the best concert of your life before the concert had begun.
A long-time roadie of Ozzy’s kicked off the show with sheer enthusiasm before kicking huge beach balls into the mosh pit and introducing the first band of the day, Mastodon. The band really got things going in a slot that is traditionally difficult, and apart from giving us two of their songs, they covered Sabbath’s Supernaut with the help of Eloy Castagrande and Tool’s Danny Carey. Rival Sons had only been in this venue two weeks ago, opening for Guns N’ Roses, and vocalist Jay Buchanan was full of energy, his voice was very solid as the band rocked out to Sabbath”s Electric Funeral. What was so special today was anticipating what Sabbath songs would be covered.
ANTHRAX got the biggest cheer so far of the day, and it was hard not to fully focus on guitarist Scott Ian. He was surrounded today by his heroes, by the same guys who made him pick up a guitar in the first place, and when he wasn’t doing horns and halos, he was smiling just as wide as we all were. Anthrax only got to play two songs, but did open up with their classic Indians and then jumped into Sabbath’s Into the Void. I did see and hear many fans running for the toilets, beers, and burgers just before Halstorm were about to take to the stage. Personally, I hadn’t connected with the band previously but had known that singer Lzzy Hale had helped out on a few Skid Row shows. She kicked my ass and 40,000 others in the next 20 minutes with a fantastic vocal performance but her stage presence suggests that Halestorm are going to be real household names and perhaps command any stage they wish. Whilst it is true that the band have been around for two decades, having this type of exposure will really serve them well going forward.
LAMB OF GOD felt like the first real heavy band of the day, and we were quickly presented by not 1 but 4 circle pits. The legendary band opted to play Children of the Grave which went down a storm. Next up, we were presented by a supergroup, and really, a jump into the unknown. We were going to get a couple of songs from Ozzy’s 1986 album The Ultimate Sin. The self-titled track welcomed back Lzzy Hale on vocals, and the band featured Faith No More’s Mike Bordin on drums, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt on guitar, Adam Wakeman was there too, and so was David Ellefson on bass. The biggest cheer and one of total respect, though, was when legendary guitarist Jake E. Lee appeared on stage. Lee was shot multiple times in LA only nine months prior, and here he was. Disturbed singer David Draiman appeared for the classic Shot in the Dark, but he was heavily booed in the only negative aspect of the day. This goes back to him allegedly signing his name on a missile, which was allegedly used to bomb Gaza. It was an odd mix because the boos did subside when the fans recognised the song and they were soon cheering and singing along. Draiman did look uneasy, though, but thankfully understood the day was all about Ozzy, and he launched into a cover of Sweet Leaf. Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe was drafted in to sing Believer with Scott Ian back on guitar. Next up was a surprise when the very talented Yungblud sang Changes a heartfelt Ozzy classic, which was also dedicated to fallen soccer star Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car crash a few days beforehand. It was a vocal moment to rival the great Freddie Mercury’s at Queen’s legendary performance at Live Aid 40 years ago, almost to the day. Well, now we were witnessing Loud Aid, and after Yungblud’s performance, we switched to the screens. We watched Jack Black sing an exclusive version of Mr Crowley, which included guitar by Tom Morello’s son.
ALICE IN CHAINS did not mess around and opened up with their biggest hit Man in the Box. This was followed up by Would. Singer William Duvall noted that despite our differences outside the stadium, inside we were all headbanging freaks, and in one sentence, he had summed up how we all felt. Alice chose Fairies Wear Boots as their cover song; it was a short and sharp performance, but was beautiful. French band GOJIRA got more time than AIC, which was a surprise, but they did get the circle pits going again. They looked a little nervous but rounded off their performance well with the Sabbath classic Under the Sun. Next, we were treated to a fun drum-off contest between Danny Carey, Travis Barker, and Chad Smith. They launched into the classic Symptom of the Universe and guitars were provided by Morello, Bettencourt, and we were introduced to the legendary Rudy Sarzo. The moment the guitars repeatedly came in for their moment in one of the very great metal riffs of all time was cheered louder and louder as they rinsed and repeated. This was certainly a special moment. Honestly, it seemed by this stage of proceedings that we had had a full show, thank you and goodnight, we had been spoiled, but there was so much still to come.
Take what happened next when Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan took to the stage to belt out Judas Priest’s Breaking the Law with the one and only K.K. Downing. Snow Blind was also played before Sammy Hagar made a very rare appearance in England and sang Ozzy’s Flying High Again. He opened to sing Rock Candy from his first band, Montrose, and while dyed-in-the-wool fans would have known of the track, most didn’t. Perhaps Hagar would have done well to have belted out one of his well-known solo tracks, or even a Van Halen one would have gone down well. Papa V. Perpetua from Ghost took to the vocals for Bark at the Moon, and more than usual, you could see fans grab their camera phones due to the fact that they are banned at Ghost’s shows. Continuing the supergroup theme a bonafide legend walks out on stage in the form of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and so does Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood as they dive deep into 60s rock myth with Train Kept a Rollin’ this was followed up by Walk this Way and Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love and yes for a few seconds I really thought that Jimmy Page was going to grace the stage but the silver haired wizard continues to elude me. Tyler is mesmerizing, though, and it was only less than a year ago that Sammy Hagar stopped his show to tell us he had heard that Steven Tyler wouldn’t be able to sing again and therefore Aerosmith were disbanding. To see Tyler then scream his lungs out at what looked effortless just added to rock n’ roll lore. It reminds us of how Alice Cooper, who is pushing 80, is about to play as many shows every year, or how Mick Jagger still runs about the stage, and what about Ringo Starr, who looks arguably younger than he did 40 years ago. These guys just keep rocking, and it was a delight to see Tyler leap, run, smile, and sing his heart out on stage. The crowd was shattered through sheer excitement.
But there was no letting up because PANTERA was on next, and they opened up with a song they usually close sets with on Cowboys From Hell. Walk got everyone jumping, and it got pretty emotional when they covered Planet Caravan. This was the first time Pantera had attempted this since the mid-1990s. TOOL is normally accustomed to playing at night, but it was a strange delight to see Maynard and his band push out their unique progressive lethargic rock. They were trance-like. Tool arguably possesses the best drummer currently on the planet in Danny Carey, and no one sounds like guitarist Adam Jones. What a feel he has for what he does. Tool, by the way, covered Hand of Doom. Slayer, so heavily influenced by Sabbath, of course got six numbers to play and went down a treat. They picked Wicked World as their Sabbath cover, and the rest of their set was made up of their classics, which included War Ensemble and Raining Blood. As you can imagine, the headbanging and circle pits were at full maximum scale by now.
Such is this unique day, you wouldn’t expect a band like GUNS N’ ROSES to follow Slayer, but hey ho, anything was going today. Singer Axl Rose made a slight mistake before launching into Sabbath’s Bill Ward effort It’s Alright. This is a song Axl regulalry played on the mammoth Use Your Illusion world tour but it had not been played by them in 32 years. Indeed, much of Guns’ set was taken up by Sabbath covers, including Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. With no backing band, this was Guns’ first performance in 35 years as a five-piece. Axl screamed as if his life depended on it, and ironically only sounded average on one of his own songs set closer Paradise City, otherwise Guns remain a tight outfit even if their mythos of the 80s and 90s has long disappeared. Finally, METALLICA got to go onstage AFTER Guns N’ Roses, and it only took 33 years to do so following the band’s infamous co-headline tour in 1992. Metallica meant business here and were simply a juggernaut of metal and mayhem. They kicked off their set with the Sabbath classic Hole in the Sky and included much of their own classics, including Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Battery and Master of Puppets. This was classic Metallica in part because we didn’t have to listen to any of their newer material, and there were no breaks like we have to have on their latest tours. It was simply brutal and in your face. Lars on drums was certainly working overtime, and we can forgive Rob’s mistake on For Whom the Bell Tows, simply put this was an utterly masterful display.
And so we had reached that stage when Ozzy Osbourne was going to take the stage for his first live appearance in 3 years and his first show in 7. Tom Morello by this stage had become compere. It was Jason Momoa, but he had been terrible at his job. why? Well, because he was really a fan who wanted to watch the band’s drink beer and mosh. He kind of deserted his duties that afternoon and jumped into the pit for Pantera and then joined yours truly for Metallica’s set. Back to Morello, who looked downbeat. My heart jumped. Ozzy wasn’t going to appear? But no, this was a rightful moment to think of the one and only Randy Rhodes, tragically killed in 1982, who would have absolutely been here. And then, rising like a phoenix, quite literally from the stage, rose Ozzy. In his throne, I can tell you this was like viewing Elvis in the flesh. It felt like an out-of-body experience. Reality hit, though. How was Ozzy going to sound? His right-hand man, Zakk Wylde waiting for Ozzy’s cue, and they jumped into I Don’t Know and Ozzy sounded like Ozzy. By the time he went into Mr Crowley and Suicide Solution, grown men around me were crying. The tears were for the end, the tears were for Ozzy and his health, but the tears were also because Ozzy was proving the doubters and keyboard warriors wrong. Sure, he wasn’t in good health, sure he wanted to stand up and headbang, but couldn’t. But his voice, THAT voice, was still there, and it was a thing of heavy metal beauty. He finished his set with classic Crazy Train, and we were all breathless and still had Black Sabbath to come. Naturally, there was a delay in this for Ozzy, and then the lights dimmed a hellish red before we witnessed the original four guys standing before us. First up was War Pigs, N.I.B, Iron Man, and Paranoid, followed. By then Bill Ward playing his first live performance with them in 20 years was semi-naked. Tony Iommi was giving out a metal rifftastic legend to his peers, and Geezer Butler was coolness personified and literally walking the universe with his bass. This band sounded great and relevant even 57 years after playing their first show. Ozzy’s final moments were filled with tears in his eyes, and one of his last moments on stage was turning to the side and saying I did it to his wife Sharon watching from the stage side. For so many years, Ozzy knew his time was up performing live, but wanted one last taste in front of the fans. And his health ebbed away, and time it felt more unlikely this could happen. In the end, just like the rock n’ roll spirit that serves Tyler to Jagger so well, Ozzy got his final wish and rocked our minds senseless. It is something that none of us be it in the stadium or watching at home, will ever forget.
Review and all photos by David Bronstein.
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