When Ozzy Osbourne climbed on stage at Villa Park, Birmingham, on July 5, 2025, it seemed like a grand finale—but no one at that moment fully understood just how close to death he had been. Seventeen days later, the Prince of Darkness would die. Yet he left behind a final performance so raw, beautiful, and unforgettable that it will be etched into rock history.
A Career’s Last Celebration
The concert, Back to the Beginning, was designed as both a farewell and a homecoming. Ozzy reunited with the original Black Sabbath lineup—Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward—on one stage for the first time in decades.
Supporting acts spanned heavy-metal royalty: Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, and more.
Proceeds raised were estimated at £140 million (roughly $175 million) and were pledged to charities such as Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Ozzy, weakened by years of illness, performed sitting on a throne—he could no longer reliably walk or stand.
Yet, the show was full of grandeur, defiance, and deep emotion. As he later reflected, he insisted he wouldn’t “go up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy … what’s the f—ing point in that?”
Fighting Death to Return to the Stage
But to fully understand the weight of that night, one must look at the months—and years—leading up to it.
Ozzy had battled Parkinson’s disease since around 2019 (some sources place clinical onset a bit later), and over recent years had endured repeated health crises: pneumonia, sepsis, blood clots, spine injuries, and a fall that fractured vertebrae.
In weeks before the show, he was hospitalized with sepsis and pneumonia, his life hanging by a thread.
His own words, quoted in his posthumous memoir Last Rites, were stark: “It really was touch and go … at my age, with Parkinson’s … I had as much chance of surviving as winning Love Island.”
His family—especially Sharon—feared the worst. Ozzy later wrote that they’d “sat at the bottom of the stairs and sobbed their hearts out.”
Against all odds, he recovered enough to vow: he would get back onstage one last time for his fans. He told himself, “I wasn’t done yet.”
The Night It All Came Together
The concert began powerfully: Ozzy performed solo classics such as “I Don’t Know,” “Mr. Crowley,” and “Suicide Solution.”
Everything seemed under control. But then came the moment that cracked his façade.
When the opening chords of “Mama, I’m Coming Home” rang out—a song co-written by Lemmy Kilmister, and one of Sharon’s favorites—Ozzy’s emotions overwhelmed him. He later admitted, “That’s Sharon’s song … one of her favorites.”
His voice faltered. Tears blurred his vision. For a few seconds, he was not the rock legend but a man saying goodbye. He pressed on, channeling every ounce of love and pain into the rest of the song.
He later said the concert didn’t feel like a funeral. Instead, it felt like a celebration—a mutual embrace between him and his fans.
He cried onstage, but he also felt lifted. In one interview, he said, “Tears were streaming down my face, but I felt so uplifted… the crowd started singing back the words.”
Facing Mortality with Humor and Honesty
In Last Rites, released October 7, 2025, Ozzy reflects unflinchingly on that final chapter. He dismisses rumors of any “suicide pact” with Sharon, saying they simply agreed they didn’t want life artificially prolonged by machines.
He also shares his burial wishes: “Cremation feels like you were never here … I wanna make the flowers grow.”
The memoir covers not just his decline, but the peaks of his career: the wild years, his relationship with Sharon, his friendships (and feuds) with rock legends like Lemmy, Slash, Bon Scott, and more.
At times raw and remorseful, at others laugh-out-loud absurd, Last Rites positions itself as his final, uncensored statement.
The Legacy Echoes On
Just 17 days after that last concert, Ozzy died at age 76, reportedly from a heart attack.
His passing made that show even more poignant—what had felt like a farewell became a final, irrevocable goodbye.
Black Sabbath’s legacy, and Ozzy’s place at its core, is beyond debate. With Back to the Beginning, he staged perhaps the most theatrical and emotionally charged exit in rock history.
The concert’s carefully curated spectacle, the surging tributes from peers, the emotional fragility, and Ozzy’s own defiance—all converged into a moment that will be remembered forever.
Even in death, his voice, madness, humor, and truth continue to resonate. In Last Rites, Ozzy gives fans one final window into his world—not as a myth, but as a flawed, hurting, fighting human being. His tears that night were not weakness—they were the weight of a life lived fully, the closing chord of a legend who refused to fade quietly.