Ozzy and Sabbath delight adoring fans in emotional farewell gig

By Sachin Ravikumar and Sarah Mills

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) -Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath thrilled tens of thousands of fans in an emotional farewell gig in Birmingham on Saturday following a day packed with tribute sets from a star-studded lineup.

Nearly six decades after helping pioneer heavy metal with an eponymous song that enthralled and frightened audiences, Black Sabbath returned to their home of Aston for "Back to the Beginning," at Villa Park stadium.

The one-off gig, with profits going to charity, was billed as Osbourne's last performance, five years after the 76-year-old "Prince of Darkness" revealed he had Parkinson's disease, which has made him unable to walk.

One of music's wildest frontmen, who once chewed off the head of a bat on stage, Osbourne performed sitting on a black throne, at times appearing to tear up before an adoring crowd which lapped up hits including "Crazy Train".

"You've got no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," Osbourne said.

Earlier, over a dozen acts including Metallica, Slayer, Tool and Guns N' Roses paid tribute to Black Sabbath and performed to a sea of fans in black band T-shirts who headbanged, moshed and crowd-surfed through a long day of rock and metal music.

"Without Sabbath there would be no Metallica. Thank you, boys, for giving us a purpose in life," Metallica frontman James Hetfield said.

Some of rock music's biggest names appeared on stage, including the Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Megadeth's David Ellefson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, who was also the event's musical director.

Morello told Metal Hammer magazine earlier that his goal had been to create "the greatest day in the history of heavy metal as a salute to the band that started it all."

The gig united Sabbath's original lineup of Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward for the first time in 20 years.

Some fans cried and many said they felt emotional.

One of them was Runo Gokdemir, a teacher from London, who said he had sold a car for 400 pounds ($546) to pay for a ticket.

"I love Ozzy that much," he told Reuters. "When I had a tough time in my teenage years, I listened to Black Sabbath, and Ozzy has got me through a lot."

Lisa Meyer, who organised a Black Sabbath exhibition in Birmingham in 2019, said the band had built an enduring legacy by offering a heavier alternative to the Beatlemania and hippy music of the 1960s.

"That's what really resonated with fans, giving a voice to that rage, anger and frustration, but doing it in a really cathartic way," Meyer, co-founder of the Home of Metal project, told Reuters.

Ozzy finished his solo set and returned with Black Sabbath, including a shirtless Ward, to perform four of their biggest hits including "War Pigs", "Paranoid" and "Iron Man."

Tom Mould, an engineering apprentice who stood in the front row for 12 hours, said he loved every bit of Osbourne's set: "He's still got it."

($1 = 0.7325 pounds)

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Alison Williams and Nick Zieminski)