Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne have announced that they will play their final shows on July 5 as part of the “Back To The Beginning” festivities that will include performances from Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera and several others. The show will also feature guest appearances by Sammy Hagar, Billy Corgan, David Draiman, Duff McKagen, Slash, Lzzy Hale and Fred Durst, to name just a few.
When the announcement was made, rock fans speculated as to what the show might actually look like given Ozzy’s health issues. Osbourne has been unable to perform live in recent years due to several complications stemming from his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Sharon Osbourne provided details as to the format of the show in a recent interview with NME. “It starts at noon, then you’re going to see one icon playing with another icon, doing a Sabbath song and one or two of their own songs, and people playing with each other that you never you’d see,” she said. “Tom Morello is going to play with the drummer from Tool and they’re going to have Billy Corgan with them – they’re all from Chicago so they’re all doing their bit.”
She continued: “Then you’ll see Slash and Duff and whoever they choose to play with. David Draiman is going to come up and sing, Jonathan from Korn is going to be here and he could be playing with Chad Smith or whoever! Alice In Chains are coming and they’re playing as the band.”
Sharon previously said that the gig will mark a “full stop” for both Black Sabbath and Ozzy. “Ozzy didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there’s no been no full stop,” she said. “This is his full stop.”
