Jack Osbourne paid tribute following his father Ozzy Osbourne’s final live performance with Black Sabbath on Saturday, July 5.
Ozzy, 76, headlined the Back to the Beginning festival at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham with a five-song solo set — including classic tracks “Mr. Crowley” and “Crazy Train” — and was then joined by original Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for four more songs — “War Pigs,” “N.I.B.,” “Iron Man,” and “Paranoid”— to finish the night. Following his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 2019, Ozzy was seated in a throne throughout his set in front of a reported 42,000 fans.
“It’s so good to be on this f****** stage, you have no idea,” Osbourne told his fans. “Let the madness begin!”
His son Jack, 39, followed up the star-studded concert by sharing vintage footage of his father bringing him up on stage as a child.
“For everything I learned along the way…the final Good Night We Love You All,” Jack wrote via Instagram on Saturday.
Jack’s sister, Kelly Osbourne, and his mother, Sharon Osbourne, documented the day by sharing their own behind-the-scenes photos and videos from Back to the Beginning. (Ozzy and Sharon are also parents to 41-year-old daughter Aimee, but she did not post anything related to the concert via her social media.)
Dozens of punk, hard rock and heavy metal legends converged on Birmingham for one of the most impressive concert lineups in music history. Ozzy was supported by mini-sets from Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Slayer and Fred Durst, among many others.
There were medleys performed by one-off supergroups, including Travis Barker jamming with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. Barker’s wife, Kourtney Kardashian, shared footage of the drummer performing a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Symptom of the Universe” to express her pride over his involvement with the event.
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The Osbournes announced that they were working on one final Black Sabbath show in February, to take place in Ozzy’s hometown of Birmingham. Proceeds from the event benefited the Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice.
“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning. … It’s time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Ozzy said in a statement at the time. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”
Ozzy retired from touring in 2023, following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease and a severe spinal injury. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee recently confirmed on his Sirius XM radio show that he is no longer able to walk, but vowed not to let that stop him from performing for his hometown fans one last time.
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“I do weights [and] bike riding, I’ve got a guy living at my house who’s working with me,” Ozzy told The Guardian in May. “It’s tough. I’ve been laid up for such a long time. I’ve been lying on my back doing nothing and the first thing to go is your strength. It’s, like, starting all over again.”
He went on, “I have problems walking. I also get blood pressure issues from blood clots on my legs. I’m used to doing two hours on stage, jumping and running around. I don’t think I’ll be doing much jumping or running around this time. I may be sitting down.”
Ozzy started his career with Black Sabbath in the late 1960s, before going solo in 1979. He has sold over 100 million albums throughout his career, and is a member of the U.K. Music Hall of Fame.
