JACK OSBOURNE On OZZY OSBOURNE's Final Concert: 'It Was Like A Living Wake'

In a new interview with Rolling Stone UK, Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack was asked what the experience of the "Back To The Beginning" concert was like for him, being that it marked his father's final performance as a solo artist and with the rest of the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH. He said: "I got up there a couple of days early. I saw [BLACK SABBATH] soundcheck. It was powerful in a way that was surprising. I knew it was going to be a hard day for the whole family, especially him, and so it was like a living wake. There was a divine perfection to it all in a weird way. It was a full stop. I mean, he saw people he hadn't seen in 30 years. He got to see friends and fans and just be in his hometown, and it was just wild and really moving."

As for Ozzy's experience at the show, Jack said: "He was so happy. Since he got sick, he became a bit of a social media junkie. He was on Instagram; he was on TikTok; he had YouTube, because he was relatively stationary, so he did a lot of social media scrolling. It was the first time he'd done a gig and then got to see direct response on social media. So every morning he would wake up in England, and you'd get tabloid newspapers, and every day of the week following was some big spread in one of the British newspapers. He just really got a kick out of seeing all the great reviews and all the posts online. He was so stoked. I'm, like, 'Dad, all these reviews are amazing.' And he goes, 'A lot of fucking good that does me. I've retired.'"

Jack went on to say that the concert was "huge" for Ozzy. "And he was frustrated he couldn't get out the chair, but I think all things considered, he did a great fucking job. The only thing he said to me was, like, 'Oh, I fucking started losing it in 'Mama, I'm Coming Home'. And my response was, 'Well, everyone was.'"

At "Back To The Beginning", Ozzy played a five-song set with his solo band — consisting of guitarist Zakk Wylde, bassist Mike Inez, keyboardist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos — before being joined by fellow original BLACK SABBATH members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for four classic SABBATH songs: "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "N.I.B." and "Paranoid".

Ozzy's solo set consisted of four songs from Osbourne's 1980 solo debut album "Blizzard Of Ozz" — "I Don't Know", "Mr. Crowley", "Suicide Solution" and "Crazy Train" — along with his 1991 "No More Tears" ballad "Mama, I'm Coming Home".

The singer, who was battling Parkinson's disease, sang while seated on a black throne and appeared overcome with emotion at times. "You have no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he told the crowd.

At the end of SABBATH's set, Ozzy said: "It's the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle, thank you from the bottom of our hearts." Osbourne was then presented with a cake, while fireworks lit up the stadium from overhead.

A message on screen then read, "Thank you for everything, you guys are fucking amazing. Birmingham Forever," before the sky lit up with fireworks.

More than 40,000 fans attended the event in the stadium and 5.8 million more on a livestream. Profits from the show, which also saw performances from METALLICA, SLAYER, PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD and ANTHRAX, among others, will be shared equally between the charities Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice.

There was also an online auction benefiting those charities. Items up for bid included two Gibson guitars signed by performers, a GUNS N' ROSES pinball machine, several gold record and CD displays, including BLACK SABBATH's "Paranoid", LED ZEPPELIN's "Physical Graffiti" and METALLICA's "Master Of Puppets", plus more than a dozen travel packages.

A livestream of the daylong event was announced in June. While it was called a livestream, the video was delayed two hours from the in-arena start time.

Livestream tickets were priced $29.99, which got you live viewing and access to video for 48 hours. The livestream and T-shirt bundle was priced $64.98. It got you event viewing and a "Back To The Beginning" T-shirt.

"Back To The Beginning" was captured, produced and distributed by Mercury Studios ("One To One: John & Yoko", "American Symphony", "Metallica Saved My Life"). Mercury had partnered with Kiswe — the global D2C streaming partner behind the record-breaking BTS concert livestream — to deliver this moment of music history to fans across the globe.

The all-day event at Villa Park, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa.

Curated by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, the event featured arguably the greatest lineup of rock and metal bands ever assembled on one day.