Billy Corgan Reflects on Black Sabbath’s Final Show

Billy Corgan paid tribute to Black Sabbath following the rock band’s final concert in Birmingham, England, over the weekend, calling the experience “a beautiful and bittersweet day.”

The all-day show at Villa Park saw Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward reunite for the first time since 2005. Corgan joined the festivities as part of a “supergroup” alongside Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar, Tool’s Adam Jones, and Tom Morello to perform covers of Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law” and Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind.”

“I first heard Black Sabbath on my uncle’s stereo some 50 years ago,” Corgan shared on Instagram. “So it was surreal to stand on a football pitch with 45,000 strong to witness the end of this grand, institutional group who has touched me personally, professionally, and at times even intimately in stolen moments of work and camaraderie. Thank you Tony, Bill, Geezer, and Ozzy for all you’ve done for so many.”

He continued, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Sharon [Osbourne] for asking me to take part. It was truly an honor on more levels that I could count. And to witness the passionate performances of so many in rehearsal: those I admire from afar, those I know, too, and see the translation into the near 10-hour affair of music and fellowship was something to behold. Music is of course the soundtrack to our lives, but yesterday in my estimation was something truly special. As a 3-dimensional soundtrack was being crafted in real time. All to celebrate this coming home for the band once known as Earth.”

Corgan added that “every great journey has trials and tribulations, tragedies and surprise.” “Therein lies the magic, therein lie the tears,” he wrote. “I both whooped yesterday in sheer exultation to be in the right spot at the right moment, and I wept silently as my heroes fell on their wizardly, mythic sword to bid us farewell. We have the music, and we have them in our hearts. You don’t have to be a musician to understand. But it does help, at least if you’re trying to decode that which is elusive in the cosmos. Now the band is both here and not here; with us, and yet gone. As it should be.”

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Osbourne’s all-star farewell concert on Saturday, dubbed Back to the Beginning, featured numerous bands besides Black Sabbath, including Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, who both paid tribute to the ailing musician. Metallica kicked off their set by covering Black Sabbath’s “Hole in the Sky” from 1975’s Sabotage and they also covered “Johnny Blade” from 1978’s Never Say Die!. Guns N’ Roses performed four Black Sabbath renditions, including opening with Technical Ecstasy’s “It’s Alright” before launching into “Never Say Die.”

“It’s my time to go back to the beginning … time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne said of the concert in a statement back in February. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham for ever.”

A new documentary, No Escape From Now, will chronicle the monumental health setbacks Osbourne has experienced since 2019 and how he came to the decision to set up the farewell concert in his hometown. The film will premiere on Paramount+ later this year.

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