After a number of medical incidents, Ozzy Osbourne was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. After the diagnosis, he stopped performing; but this summer, her is reuniting with giving one final performance before retiring.
And to give that performance, he is enlisting a little help from his friends!
Twenty years ago, The Prince of Darkness separated himself from his band Black Sabbath. For the concert in July, Ozzy and his former band mates are reuniting!
“Back to the Beginning” will feature a day long event featuring some of the biggest name in metal music on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
Ozzy will perform a short set of his own before Black Sabbath members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward join Ozzy on stage. To date, Metallica, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, and Mastodon have signed on for the day of celebration with more band announcements coming.
Plus an All Star Supergroup of Billy Corgan, David Drainman, Duff McKagan, Slash, Frank Bello, Fred Durst, Jake E Lee, Jonathan Davis, KK Downing, Lizzy Hale, Mike Bordin, Rudy Sarzo, Sammy Hagar, Scott Ian, Sleep Token ii, Papa V Perpetua, Tom Morello, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Zakk Wylde will take the stage to perform. More metalheads are expected to join the Supergroup.
Ozzy issued a statement on the event saying, “it’s my time to go back to the beginning … time for me to give back to the place where I was born. How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham forever.”
Music director Tom Morello noted, “this will be the greatest heavy metal show ever.”
Proceeds from the show are going the charitable organizations Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and the Acorn Children’s Hospice.
Since forming in 1968 and releasing their debut album in 1970, Ozzy and Black Sabbath have gone on to sell more than 75 million albums around the world.
Tickets for the Metal Music gala go on sale February 14 at 10am GMT on LiveNation.co.uk.