Tony Iommi, guitarist of Black Sabbath and Heaven And Hell, and the godfather of heavy metal riffs, has posted a video to his Youtube account reflecting upon the year we’ve left behind. A year where he performed the single most iconic concert of his music career, only to then suffer the loss of his friend and creative partner from across nearly 60 years, the irreplaceable Ozzy Osbourne.

Iommi, who is now 77, opens the video by discussing the 2025 vinyl re-issue of 1987 Black Sabbath album ‘The Eternal Idol’, and his unlikely collaboration with Robbie Williams at the start of the year. The product of this partnership was single ‘Rocket’, a raucous hard rock anthem, with a music video that saw Williams tick every metal cliche in the book. Of the song, Iommi says “I really enjoyed it, it was really different for me to do that.”

The focal point of the year was the build-up to ‘Back To The Beginning’, a monumental farewell show starring the four founding members of Black Sabbath all reuniting for the last time. Formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1968, the band’s core line-up was Tony Iommi on guitar, Ozzy Osbourne as vocalist, Geezer Butler on bass, and drummer Bill Ward, who hasn’t performed with the others since 2012 due to tensions with them.

As suspense grew for the concert in July, the four members were granted Freedom of the City of Birmingham, an honour which Iommi never expected to receive. Then there was the ‘Summer of Sabbath’, a celebration of art and culture themed around the band and their impact over the decades. Iommi also takes great pride talking about the Black Sabbath Ballet, a string of performances fusing Sabbath’s music with ballet choreography, which he himself played guitar for at several dates.

Perhaps the most exciting prize was the plaque displayed at The Crown Pub in Birmingham. This was the site where Black Sabbath, then going by the name Earth, performed their first live show. The plaque marks the location, now a Grade 2 listed building, as the birthplace of the heavy metal genre, and Black Sabbath as its creators.

A tour poster for Black Sabbath’s 2025 final show

When Back To The Beginning finally arrived on July 5 2025, it drew worshippers from across the globe, either physically into Villa Park, or from the reaches of the internet. Sporting an all-star cast of guests, including actor and musician Jack Black, Guns’N’Roses, and Metallica, the evening built a crescendo into the finale of a solo performance by Ozzy Osbourne, and the last ever Black Sabbath show. In his video, Iommi said “the amount of bands that turned up to support Sabbath on that was just fantastic. What a great event.”

The pressure to put the show on was caused by Ozzy’s worsening health. Having suffered with Parkinsons Disease since 2019, he was forced to stay seated for the performance. Not long after Back To The Beginning, Ozzy Osbourne died from a heart attack on July 22. 

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Other news in the summary include the launch of his own website, as well as brand sponsorships, in the form of his signature guitar amplifier from Laney, and his personal line of Gibson humbucker pickups. Iommi wraps the video up by praising how much money had been raised for charity, by the Villa Park show, the ballet, and his guitar raffle, which raised £53,000. In addition, he confirms that in 2026, he will be releasing his first solo album since 2005’s ‘Fused’.

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The event, named ‘Back to the Beginning’, will take place Saturday 5 July, with Ozzy Osbourne, Tommy Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward reuniting for the first time in two decades.  

Sabbath originally said goodbye to fans with their The End tour in 2016-17, ending it with one last show in their native Birmingham at the Genting Arena (since renamed Bp pulse LIVE). Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2020, Osbourne said: “The only thing I do regret is not doing the last farewell show in Birmingham with Bill Ward. I felt really bad about that. It would have been so nice.”

The one-off reunion comes as Osbourne battles Parkinson’s disease, which the singer was diagnosed with in 2019, and publicly announced in 2020. Osbourne’s last live performance came in 2022 when he opened up the NFL season with a seven-minute set.  

Speaking on US radio station SiriusXM, The Prince of Darkness said: “I have made it to 2025. I can’t walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I’m still alive.” His wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne reassured fans in an exclusive interview with The Sun, saying, “It affects different parts of the body, and it’s affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it’s ever been.”

 

 

 

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Villa Park holds a special significance for the band. Osbourne, Iommi and Butler are all lifelong Aston Villa supporters. The club recently honoured the band’s frontman with a giant tifo in January’s home fixture against Scottish team Celtic in the Champions League.

Fans have speculated about a potential Black Sabbath show at Villa Park, with one Reddit user posting in 2021, “It’s been my dream gig for quite a few years, Black Sabbath returning to Aston to headline Villa Park.” With Ward returning for their last show, fans will be rushing to get tickets for this huge occasion.

Black Sabbath at Villa Park – a dream.
byu/SmellsLikeBigCheese inavfc

The supporting lineup would be festival-worthy by itself, with Metallica, Slipknot, and Judas Priest among the acts set to descend upon the Midlands. Metallica took to X, posting, “Our admiration for Black Sabbath runs deep, and we can’t wait to join them in Birmingham.” Another group on the bill, Alice In Chains, called it an “honour” to play alongside Black Sabbath. 

Our admiration for @BlackSabbath runs deep, and we can’t wait to join them in Birmingham, England, on July 5 for Back to the Beginning: The Final Show! Tickets go on sale Friday, February 14, at 10 AM GMT / 5 AM EST / 2 AM PST. pic.twitter.com/h7DuP9xZ9C

— Metallica (@Metallica) February 5, 2025

Tickets have been a hot topic, with plenty of fans guessing at prices for standing and seating. Tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster, leading some fans to speculate on whether the event will feature dynamic pricing or not.

Proceeds from the event will support Cure Parkinson’s, Acorns Children’s Hospice, and Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Helen Matthews, CEO of Cure Parkinson’s, stated, “The funds raised will make a huge difference in helping to support vital research into finding a cure for Parkinson’s – a cure that is so urgently needed.”   

Acorns CEO Trevor Johnson also took to social media to express his thanks, saying, “On behalf of everyone at Acorns, and the children and families we support, our deepest thanks to Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and all the fans attending Back to the Beginning… Your kindness will help to ensure children and families facing unimaginable journeys are never alone.”

 

 

 

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Black Sabbath’s last show is shaping up to be a historic moment for music as a whole. For the fans, it is a chance to give the Godfathers of Heavy Metal a fitting send off just months after they were each honoured with the Freedom of Birmingham, as well as raising funds for some fitting causes.

Tickets go on general sale Friday 14 February, and can be found here.

Speaking on the podcast, Sharon told daughter Kelly and Jack, “I’ve been busy trying to get together daddy’s memorabilia for the memorabilia place that we’re opening in Birmingham….he’s having all of his awards [in the museum], all his stage clothes, posters, old posters from [early incarnation of Sabbath] Earth days. I’ve got so much memorabilia. We’re gonna do it totally interactive – every video, every live show of your dad’s, everything there.”It’s more of an educational thing for musicians and artists that wanna see that you can come from nothing, and if you work hard enough this is what you can get.

Sharon further elaborated her vision for the museum, adding, “We’re going to have a café, and in there we’re going to have every instrument you can think of. Music students can come in and we’re gonna do music classes, because there’s no music at schools anymore. We’re gonna get friends, other musicians to come in.”

When October finally hits…#october #halloween #werewolf pic.twitter.com/jnctvQuYwB

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) October 1, 2023

Birmingham, the origin city of Black Sabbath and, some would argue, the birthplace of heavy metal, has been keen to recognise Ozzy and Black Sabbath in recent months with the honour of naming the giant robotic bull from the 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games being bestowed upon the artist. Guitarist Tony Iommi also made a surprise appearance at The Hippodrome Theatre two weeks ago to inaugurate the city’s premier of Black Sabbath-The Ballet.

Black Sabbath were formed over 50 years ago in Britain’s second largest city in 1968. With their three back to back releases of  Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master Of Reality in the early 70s, the band were pioneers of what would become the metal sound and scene and have cemented their place in the annals of its history with their occult imagery and grungy, doom sound.

Currently, there are no further details of an Ozzy museum, however updates are sure to follow in due course.

Great to meet Mats and Esben today and receive an amazing replica of the Iommi fossil! And thanks to Mike Olley and Steve at The Velvet Music Rooms. pic.twitter.com/8vgr99Tx7n

— Tony Iommi (@tonyiommi) July 3, 2023

Widely considered to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time and primary song writer for what most metal fans would consider the seminal and greatest ever band in the genre-Black Sabbath-Tony Iommi has accomplished pretty much everything there is in the world of rock superstardom. Perhaps that is why, when palaeontologist Mats Eriksson discovered a 469 million year old fossil, he thought of the Birmingham based virtuoso-although it probably doesn’t hurt that Eriksson is an avid metal fan himself.

The new species, a pre-historic eel like marine creature, has been dubbed Drepanoistodus Iommii, in honour of what Eriksson considers his all time favourite musician. Eriksson then found himself heading to Birmingham-the home of Iommi and origin of Black Sabbath to present Iommi with a life-size replica model of the fossil.

Iommi himself expressed some shock that a scientist would name a fossil after him but he was also equally humbled by it as well. Speaking about the naming, Iommi said, “when I first heard about this, it was a real shock to hear that a fossil’s been named after me! I’ve had a bit of abuse from from my friends about it who’ve enjoyed calling me an old fossil, but I think it’s great, a real honour. This has to be the weirdest thing that’s ever been named after me but I’m really proud of it and I wanted to thank Mats and his team in person for being such brilliant fans.”

Although Iommi is the latest heavy rock musician to be esteemed in such a way, it’s also not the first time Eriksson has bestowed the honour upon metal musicians with Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse, King Diamond and Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead also enshrined. Other fossils have been named after metal music or musicians in the past as well.

Iommi, who was diagnosed with early stage lymphoma over a decade ago, recently described his health as being all in all good and has claimed that his busy lifestyle has kept his overall health in shape. He also recently revealed that a Black Sabbath reunion, with all original members, is not off the table and that perhaps, if everything is right, a show could happen in future. Metal fans will eagerly await that news, should it come to pass.

Thank you to all my fans for supporting #PatientNumber9 which is now my highest charting album around the world! I love you all pic.twitter.com/xmPa860bsM

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) September 20, 2022

Along with the album’s high charting placement within the UK, Patient Number 9 has also broken several records for Osbourne with placements within multiple charts. Within the US, the former Black Sabbath frontman debuted at the top of various charts, including Top Album Sales and Top Current Album Sales, two charts on which Osbourne had not appeared on before. The singer has also placed within the American charts, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums, Top Vinyl Albums and Tastemaker Album Charts and placed at number three within the prestigious Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.

Osbourne’s Patient Number 9’s success has not been restricted to the US and UK; the album has sired success within charts worldwide. The heavy metal icon scored his first chart win in Canada; the album has reached the top position within the country’s album charts. Much like his placement within the UK album charts, Patient Number 9 has also placed at number two within the charts in Australia, Finland, Italy, Austria, Germany and Sweden. The album has placed at number three in Switzerland, number four in Norway, number six in New Zealand and the Netherlands, number eight in Belgium and number fourteen in France.

Osbourne’s newest release sees the singer work with producer Andrew Watt for the second time; the pair first began their creative partnership in 2020 on Osbourne’s twelve studio album Ordinary Man. The album not only marked Watt and Osbourne’s first release but also marked the longest time between albums released by Osbourne. Before the release of Ordinary Man, the singer dropped his eleventh studio album, Scream, in 2010. The pair’s newest release, Patient Number 9, has sired three singles thus far, its title track “Patient Number 9” was released on 24th June 2022.

Released via Epic Records, Patient Number 9 is a who’s who of heavy metal and rock music, the genre’s most prominent artists are included as special guests within the album. Those who appear within the star-studded tracklist are Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, legendary axe-man Zakk Wylde, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith, Metallica’s bassist Robert Trujillo, Guns N’ Roses bandmember Duff McKagan and Chris Chaney.

The album also features two more exceptional guests whose appearance holds great importance to music and culture. Fellow Black Sabbath band member and guitarist Tony Iommi is present on Patient Number 9; this is the first time the musician has appeared on a solo album by Osbourne. The album also includes the late Taylor Hawkins, the beloved drummer features on three of the album’s tracks, “Parasite featuring Zakk Wylde”, “Mr Darkness featuring Zakk Wylde”, and the album’s penultimate song , “God Only Knows”.

“I’ve never been someone who has guests on albums,” he told The Sun, “You can’t reproduce what they do when you’re playing live but I’m blown away by those people on my record.” Ozzy managed to get the legendary list of names together during Covid, “As usual, America went over the top when the pandemic started. People were buying a thousand f***ing kitchen rolls!” “So they weren’t going on a tour bus and, for about three months, they weren’t even going out at all.”

He went on to say how “gaga” it made him working with artists he admires. On working with Eric Clapton, he says, “He’s f***ing Eric Clapton!” “Nowadays, there are thousands of bands but in the Sixties and early Seventies, there weren’t very many in the business. And Eric Clapton was THE guitar player.”

Someone Ozzy hadn’t worked with before was late drummer Taylor Hawkins. “We were with him the week before he died,” explains Osbourne, “My producer knew him so Taylor came into the studio. He just said, ‘I play for Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl’s my boss’.” “He was a nice, nice man.”

Ozzy says the inspiration for the album’s name, Patient Number 9, is “about being in a lunatic asylum and I should have probably been in a few of those,” he says. The record will be released on 9th September. 

Closing the #CommonwealthGames #Birmingham Forever! pic.twitter.com/CE0qFy3gTC

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) August 9, 2022

In 2020, Osbourne told Good Morning America that he had been living with Parkinson’s disease. Despite his challenging diagnosis, Osbourne has not been slowing down. Along with releasing his new album, he’s going on tour and even surprised fans with a performance to close the Commonwealth Games in his hometown of Birmingham.

Ozzy rose to fame as the frontman of Black Sabbath, he went on to have a successful solo career, releasing 12 studio albums, the first seven of which received multi-platinum certifications in the US. He joins fellow Black Sabbath member, Tony Iommi, on two new tracks ‘No Escape From Now’ and ‘Degradation Rules’.

“We are so proud to be returning to our home town to close the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.” – Roger Taylor

Duran Duran join @birminghamcg22 for unforgettable Opening Ceremony – tickets avail but selling fast- visit https://t.co/dNyWW8V8xc for details! pic.twitter.com/jnqA5Syppn

— Duran Duran (@duranduran) July 20, 2022

Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon said in a statement, “The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is a momentous event for the great city of Birmingham. And we in Duran Duran are honoured to be a part of it in our hometown.” Roger Taylor continued, “We are so proud to be returning to our hometown to close the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. It is a true honour to be part of a global event that will bring sports people of all cultural backgrounds around the world together as one. Another milestone in a most incredible year for us.”

John Taylor added, “It is so good to be participating in the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games this year, performing for the first time with the CBSO.” In a tweet, legendary Sabbath guitar player Iommi confirmed that he will be there too.

It’s true, that I will be performing at the opening of the Commonwealth Games. I’m very honoured to have been asked to do it and I’m really looking forward to the day! It’s such a great boost for Birmingham to have the games held here.

Photo (c) Ross Halfin. pic.twitter.com/9ojjqM2HGa

— Tony Iommi (@tonyiommi) July 20, 2022

The statement for the Opening Ceremony reveals that Iommi will play with acclaimed saxophonist Soweto Kinch. The two musicians will lead a dream sequence called “Hear my Voice”, based on the title track from the 2020 film Trial of the Chicago Seven, reimagined here by Birmingham-born RnB vocalists Indigo Marshall and Gambimi.

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Oxborough, a graduate of Birmingham Conservatoire, will perform the National Anthem for the United Kingdom with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) under acclaimed conductor Alpesh Chauhan as part of the formal opening of the Games.

Acclaimed theatre producer and Artistic Director of the ceremony, Iqbal Khan, said, “It’s been an unbelievable honour to guide the artistic direction for the Opening Ceremony. Since setting out on this journey, I wanted to tell Birmingham’s story and I wanted to tell it right – to show that there is a vivid and vibrant confidence about this place, in this moment.”

The event is set to be helmed by executive producer Steven Knight, known for his work within the popular TV show Peaky Blinders. For those unable to attend in person, the Opening Ceremony will be broadcasted live via BBC. Tickets for the opening ceremony can be purchased here.

Iommi, perhaps best known as the guitarist of heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath, has explored musical ventures outside of the group, having released a self-titled solo album in 2000, and collaborated with fellow Black Sabbath bandmates Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, as well as ex-Black Sabbath and Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio in the group Heaven and Hell.

In 2017, Iommi composed a five-minute piece of classical-tinged music for the Birmingham Cathedral Choir, entitled “How Good It Is.” The piece can be found on YouTube, and on Birmingham Cathedral’s website. According to their website, Iommi’s incentive to compose the piece was to “give something back to his home city.”

Other than this, the guitarist’s last commercial music release was Black Sabbath’s nineteenth full-length studio album 13, which was released on June 10^th, 2013. The album received generally favourable reviews upon its release, with some particularly glowing reception from Fred Thomas of Allmusic, who called the album “unexpectedly brilliant, apocalyptic, and essential for any die-hard metal fan.” There has been talk over the last few years of a potential twentieth album from Black Sabbath, however nothing has been set in stone.

“Scent of Dark” shares a name with a line of perfume that Iommi has recently released, in collaboration with Sergio Momo, the founder of Italian perfume brand Xerjoff. Momo himself features on the track, playing guitar alongside Iommi. According to Revolver, Iommi gave an insight into how the track was written, saying; “I’ve had the riff for quite a while and I’d never done anything with it…but it gave us a base to start from. We built up the track with programmed drums at first and then Mike Exeter demoed bass and keyboards on it, and I added my guitar solos, just to give us an idea of how it was going to sound…Then we added the strings. I’d worked with string sections on Sabbath albums before, but this was a whole new experience.”

It may come as a surprise to some that Iommi has ventured into the world of perfumes and colognes, however he also told Revolver; “It’s something I’ve always been interested in, ever since the early days of products like Brut and Old Spice, which I’d always get given for Christmas…Once I started touring the world with Sabbath though, I started discovering different sorts of fragrances from other countries and began collecting them.”

Playing at Birmingham’s NEC Arena, the group played a set of 15 songs from their discography, finishing with their iconic track ‘Paranoid’ from their 1970 breakthrough album of the same name. The gig also marked the finale of their 81 date The End tour, and was streamed live on the band’s Facebook page, as well as being live-tweeted, as seen below.

The final song and final bow pic.twitter.com/r0OJimzfjJ

— BlackSabbath (@BlackSabbath) February 4, 2017

Last summer, Black Sabbath played their final headline show at Download Festival 2016, before setting out for The End tour. In November, frontman Ozzy Osbourne told Ultimate Classic Rock that he plans to continue writing music following Sabbath’s farewell tour. “It’s not me that wants to retire, it’s Black Sabbath” Ozzy claimed, “I’ll be continuing my own musical thing. My wife is good at telling me partial information, but I know I’m not hanging my boots up for a while.”

Last month, Black Sabbath’s keyboardist Geoff Nicholls died aged 68, after a long battle with cancer, having toured and performed with the band for over 25 years. “Geoff Nicholls was a great friend of mine for a long time. He will be greatly missed. I’m very saddened at the news,” said Osbourne in tribute. Thankfully there was some good news in the Sabbath camp last month, as guitarist Tony Iommi revealed that his cancer was in remission, and that a lump that was recently found in his throat was benign. 

As recently as last month Iommi had been discussing the potential return of his lymphoma, which he was diagnose with in 2012, saying that the lump that was found was puzzling doctors, as they weren’t able to decipher if it was cancerous or not, until they operated on it. Iommi initially underwent treatment for the illness in January 2013.

Speaking to radio station Planet Rock, Iommi confirmed that he received the most recent good news on Christmas Day itself, telling the station “I had the treatment when I got back from [touring] South America […] I went in for the throat [operation]. They found a lump at the back of my sinus, in the throat, and we had to have it checked in case it may have been cancerous. But it turns out it wasn’t, which I found out on Christmas Day, which is brilliant.” When about his current condition, Iommi was chipper, declaring“So far [I’m all good]. I daren’t say that – I’ll probably fall down the stairs now!”