Sharon Osbourne says ‘Back To The Beginning’ was a celebration of “people who have been considered the bastards of the music industry for so long”
Sharon Osbourne opened up about the epic ‘Back To The Beginning’ show and new movie, sharing how she she wanted the night to be a celebration of the artists who had “been considered the bastards of the music industry for so long”.
READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne, 1948-2025: culture-smashing revolutionary that redefined rock and reality TV The mammoth show took place at Villa Park in Birmingham last summer, and marked both Ozzy Osbourne ’s final solo performance and the last ever show from Black Sabbath ’s original line-up.
It was the first time that Osbourne, Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler and Bill Ward performed live together in more than 20 years, and was organised by Sharon with musical direction from Rage Against The Machine icon Tom Morello .
Performances came from the likes of Metallica , Guns N’ Roses , Tool , Slayer , Pantera , Alice In Chains , Gojira , Anthrax , Lamb Of God , Mastodon , Rival Sons and Halestorm – who all covered songs from across Ozzy’s discography – and there were also guest appearances from Yungblud , Nuno Bettencourt, Ghost ’s Tobias Forge, Smashing Pumpkins ‘ Billy Corgan , Andrew Watt , Steven Tyler , Travis Barker , Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and many more across the night.
Osbourne died aged 76 just 17 days later .
The concert ultimately raised around £11million for charity and has now been made into a concert film , set to arrive in cinemas next Wednesday (October 28).
At the premiere screening in London last night (Tuesday October 20), Sharon looked back at the event and explained how, as well as being a celebration of Ozzy and his career, she wanted the night to celebrate metal music as a whole, especially as she has seen the genre become more “acceptable” compared to when Black Sabbath were first starting out.
“It represents a genre of music, a community, and these people have been considered the bastards of the music industry for so long,” she said.
“It’s finally got to [the point] where you see artist after artist that are filling stadiums now with this music, and it’s just wonderful to see it.” She added: “It’s amazing, because it was never really big in the press for a long time.
It was like ‘I don’t want to write about him, he’s a nutter’, but now it has become acceptable.
We have seen genres come and go, but this stayed, and it will continue to stay. ‘Back To The Beginning’ is a celebration of that.” Also at the Q&A event at the premiere, Sharon was asked by host and journalist Phil Alexander what Ozzy was like on the day of the event, especially as he had been warned by doctors “just 10 days prior” that he would be unable to play live at the show due to his poor health.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.nme.com — the content belongs to NME.