Ozzy and Black Sabbath's Farewell Show: 10 Thoughts Across 10 Hours

Observations on a historic day for heavy metal

I spent the entirety of my Saturday watching the livestream of Back to the Beginning, Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert, at which he performed both solo and with the original Black Sabbath — both for what was billed as the final time. Obviously, Ozzy has a history of false advertisement when it comes to No More Tours, as it were, but this time, I’d wager, it’s different: He’s 76 and, due to Parkinson’s, can no longer walk, among other serious health issues. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that after Saturday, we’ve seen the last of Ozzy Osbourne on a stage.

I filed a recap of the event for The New York Times, which followed another Ozzy-related piece of mine that published in advance of the show, for which I spoke to five metal and hard-rock luminaries — Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee and Lita Ford — about Ozzy’s greatness.

As a die-hard fan of Sabbath, and of metal in general, I had plenty of stray thoughts about the proceedings that didn’t fit into the recap. I thought I’d collect some of them here. Before I get into the weeds, I’d just state up front that if you’re a person with any kind of investment in heavy metal but did not watch yesterday’s stream, you really need to check it out. (I’m not entirely clear on the details, but my understanding is that you can still purchase it for replay viewing through tomorrow, Monday, July 7 — more info is here.) I don’t think it’s any kind of overstatement to say that Back to the Beginning will go down as one of the most significant events in the history of the genre.

Anyway, on to the observations:

1. The song choices were inspired.
One thing that fascinated me about the show was the way that the choices of Sabbath covers strangely became more obscure as the support acts got more famous. As you’ll find from reading the recap, each band that performed played two of its own songs and one cover of either a Sabbath or an Ozzy song. And further covers were played by two supergroups with rotating personnel. Those covers included, by my count (with singers named in parentheses):

Mastodon, “Supernaut”
Rival Sons, “Electric Funeral”
Halestorm, “Perry Mason”
Lamb of God, “Children of the Grave”
Supergroup A, “The Ultimate Sin” (Lzzy Hale)
Supergroup A, “Shot in the Dark” (David Draiman)
Supergroup A, “Sweet Leaf” (David Draiman)
Supergroup A, “Believer” (Whitfield Crane)
Supergroup A, “Changes” (Yungblud)
Alice in Chains, “Fairies Wear Boots”
Gojira, “Under the Sun”
Drum-Off Band, “Symptom of the Universe” (instrumental)
Supergroup B, “Snowblind” (Billy Corgan)
Supergroup B, “Flying High Again” (Sammy Hagar)
Supergroup B, “Bark at the Moon” (Papa V Perpetua, a.k.a. Ghost’s Tobias Forge)
Pantera, “Electric Funeral” [Ed. note: Yep, a repeat! I liked this one a lot better, FWIW]
Pantera, “Planet Caravan”
Tool, “Hand of Doom”
Slayer, “Wicked World” [Ed. note: Bookending “South of Heaven”]
Guns N’ Roses, “It’s Alright”
Guns N’ Roses, “Never Say Die!”
Guns N’ Roses, “Junior's Eyes”
Guns N’ Roses, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
Metallica, “Hole in the Sky”
Metallica, “Johnny Blade”

Since we could pretty much assume that Sabbath themselves would play “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid,” all of which they did end up doing, that made the situation very interesting by the time Slayer came on. Probably the biggest songs yet unplayed other than those three were “N.I.B.,” which Sabbath also ended up playing, and “Black Sabbath” itself. (Somewhat fascinatingly, the latter never actually got an airing, though Sabbath alluded to it in the opening of their set, which featured a snippet of the song’s famed church-bell-and-pouring-rain sample.) The result of all this was that the three biggest bands all swerved toward relative deep cuts, and the results were inspired.

I was straight-up shocked to hear Paul Bostaph — a drummer not exactly known for his aptitude at playing swing, or anything that is not, for lack of a better term, Slayer-Style Drums — kick into the distinctive big-band-style opening to “Wicked World,” a song I cited a bit in this deep dive into Sabbath’s jazz affinities. He handled it pretty well, though, and more importantly, the way the band used the song to bookend its own, similarly themed “South of Heaven” was absolutely awesome — really a master class in how to make a live cover feel fresh and smartly integrated.

Axl Rose’s solo piano version of “It’s Alright,” the lovely, Bill Ward–sung ballad from Technical Ecstasy, wasn’t the hugest surprise, as he covered the song back in the ’90s. But hearing GN’R celebrate Never Say Die! — ever the black sheep of Ozzy’s first stint with Sabbath — by playing both the title track and “Junior’s Eyes,” a song I’ve loved for years but have literally never heard a peep about in the general Sabbath fandom, was a ton of fun.

Likewise, I was again bowled over to hear Metallica cover, of all songs, another Never Say Die! deep cut, the lyrically goofy but musically excellent “Johnny Blade,” and clearly having a blast doing so. “Hole in the Sky,” the monstrously heavy Sabotage opener, was a little less of a surprise, but still most welcome. I would’ve loved to hear someone do, say, “Megalomania” — or, getting really far-fetched, “Air Dance”! — but as a fan who loves and appreciates the last two ’70s Ozzy albums along with the more canonical early efforts, I was more than happy with the above.

2. The generational and stylistic blending was heartwarming to witness.
I got into this a bit in my recap, but one of the coolest things about the show overall was seeing all these supposed divisions of era, style, fashion, etc. melt away in the name of a larger spirit of goodwill, camaraderie and die-hard Sabbath and Ozzy obsession. What a pleasure to see Rudy Sarzo and K.K. Downing mixing it up with various ’90s luminaries (Corgan’s delight at being onstage with the latter was so much fun to witness) and Jake E. Lee receiving a hero’s welcome from Lzzy Hale & Co. You really felt the familial bond of this music emanating from these collaborations. I will also echo a sentiment expressed over text by my friend and former colleague Kory Grow and say that Nuno Bettencourt was without question one of the night’s truly essential presences — he got a ton of stage time and played brilliantly in both a supporting role and in his few solo turns.

3. Tool — my lord…
Speaking as a huge Tool fan, I can honestly say that some recent live footage has left me a little cold, as the band can sometimes seem a tad reserved or disengaged. But this show really lit a fire under them: I haven’t seen the quartet play with such conviction and intensity in years. The originals were absolutely ferocious, and Maynard really nailed “Hand of Doom” — easily one of my favorite covers of the day.

4. Same goes for Gojira…
Gojira are a band that I haven’t felt too strongly about either way in the past. The records sound pretty good to me, but I just haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole into actual fandom. But their performance on Saturday was absolutely riveting and may prove to be my gateway into a broader appreciation.

5. Ozzy’s emotional connection with his audience is one in a million.
This is something that the great Rob Halford smartly highlighted when I spoke with him about Ozzy: “When he walks onstage, your eyes never leave him,” Halford said. “There’s very few frontmen that can do that. He wraps his arms around 20,000 people in an arena, and he touches every single person.” All this was on full display last night. Ozzy emanates so much genuine gratitude and excitement when he performs, and at Back to the Beginning, he was more heart-on-sleeve than ever before. The audience responded in kind, and the exchange was deeply poignant.

7. No one drums like Bill Ward.
Savoring the man’s unique pocket one last time was a true privilege. He sounded like he was still getting his bearings on “War Pigs,” but my lord did he groove on “Iron Man” and the rest. (For more on the unique Bill Ward feel, and what might have informed it, may I recommend my conversation with the man himself, heard on a 2019 episode of the Heavy Metal Bebop podcast?)

8. No one plays bass like Geezer Butler.
This man’s utter ease with playing in a loose, exploratory, improvisationally driven manner puts him, in my mind, up there with the great “free range” bassists such as Phil Lesh. Seeing him take the “N.I.B.” intro for a stroll, and add so much color and texture to the ever-brilliant Iommi solo sections really reaffirmed for me what a treasure he is, just like every other member of this lineup.

9. Two fans expressed Sabbath’s genius in truly poetic terms.
Between bands, the livestream featured a parade of fan testimonials, in which folks from around the world addressed Ozzy and Sabbath directly, expressing their gratitude, and the wording of two of them really stuck with me. “You turn darkness into power, riff into religion and made every misfit feel like royalty,” said one woman from Cartagena, Colombia, whose name I unfortunately couldn’t make out. And elsewhere, a Brazilian man I also couldn’t ID thanked Sabbath for “guitars that sound like hell has speakers” — damn… right on! — “and for teaching me that darkness can be beautiful.” Much as you did from the bands onstage, you really felt the love from these video clips, and they were a welcome addition to the proceedings.

10. The way that Sabbath opened the floodgates for an entire movement is truly staggering.
I found myself thinking a lot yesterday — I mean how could you not, really? — about the lineage of heavy metal, and how many different offshoots and subgenres Sabbath spawned, simply by opening this most very welcome Pandora’s Box of theme and tone. Simply by asking, more or less, what if we stared darkness in the face rather than trying to escape it? (Not that literature and painting and other forms of art had not done this for centuries, but doing it in a youth-oriented musical genre was revolutionary.) And pondering all the incredible ramifications of that.

Just think, for example: Sabbath chronicles a sort of end-times, hell-in-a-handbasket malaise, embodying it sonically as well as lyrically, on songs like “War Pigs,” “Hand of Doom,” “Electric Funeral” and others, paving the way for apocalyptic visions as diverse as, say — to name two convenient examples from yesterday’s show — Slayer’s “South of Heaven” and Tool’s “Ænema.” Just one of hundreds if not thousands of possible illustrations of how an entire worldview has trickled down to innumerable artists under heavy metal’s vast umbrella through the decades.

It’s easy to overstate “Y doesn’t happen without X” scenarios when it comes to music. But in the case of Sabbath, they’re all 110% true.