Sharon Osbourne has offered a glimpse behind the scenes of Black Sabbath's live extravaganza Back To The Beginning in a new interview with Music Week.
Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne will headline the 45,000-capacity all-day event at Villa Park in their home city of Birmingham on July 5, which will feature acts including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb Of God, Anthrax and Mastodon.
The charity concert will mark the first time Sabbath's original line-up – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – have played together in 20 years, as well as being their last ever show.
“You’ve got to remember, this is a band that started in the ’60s – and they’re still here,” said Sharon Osbourne. “A lot of the bands who started in the ’60s are no longer alive, or operating as they used to.
"[Sabbath] stood up to everything that was thrown at them for being different. They just kept their mouths shut and just toured and toured and toured, and never gave up.
“The fact this is the end is what makes it special. I just want the fans to be ecstatic about the day."
The number of artists we were able to get for that one day was incredible, but you just don’t get that for two days
Sharon Osbourne
The longtime manager of her husband Ozzy, Sharon Osbourne has guided a host of rock’s biggest acts, in addition to her spells as a reality TV star and X Factor judge. She previously told Music Week that Back To The Beginning, which will be livestreamed by Mercury Studios, was “the biggest show I’ve worked on”.
According to Live Nation, tickets for the show sold out in less than 16 minutes, with more than 150,000 people reportedly in the virtual queue. But despite the heightened demand, Osbourne explained that additional dates were out of the question.
“It’s impossible,” she said, speaking in the July edition of Music Week. “Putting this show on in the summer, the busiest time with everybody everywhere in Europe doing festivals. The number of artists we were able to get for that one day was incredible, but you just don’t get that for two days.”
Osbourne shared her admiration for Back To The Beginning's music director, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
“He’s been working on this for months and months,” she said. “To pull it together and have his personality on board is fantastic. He’s not like me, someone who goes crazy – he’s very calming and controlled, which you need to be as there are 14 bands and about 30 or 40 other individuals doing supergroups together – and he’s in charge of all of that.”
Black Sabbath have a month of rehearsals in Birmingham scheduled this month, and Iommi and Ozzy have exchanged setlist wishlists to be consolidated in due course.
“They’ll do it when they get in the room,” said Osbourne, who detailed an argument with her husband about the logistics of his multiple appearances during Back To The Beginning.
“[Ozzy] shouted across the kitchen that he wanted to know how he’ll enter for his own set compared to Sabbath’s set," she said. "I’m like, ‘We haven’t got there yet – give me time!'”
There’s an absolute resurgence for this music right now, with bands headlining stadiums all over the world
Sharon Osbourne
The 72-year-old English-American manager also provided an update on Ozzy's physical condition. The frontman, 76, has dealt with a series of health issues in recent years, which are chronicled in a new feature-length documentary, Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape From Now, which will be shown on Paramount+ later this year.
“[Ozzy’s] working with his therapist every single day,” she reveaked. “He’s doing really well, actually. Ozzy’s number one thing in life is his fans, so he’s working hard to be ready for them, to make this show the perfect way to end things.”
Back To The Beginning's all-star line-up also includes members of recent metal success stories including Sleep Token (who boast 9.5 million monthly Spotify listeners and a simultaneous UK/US No.1 album in 2025) and Ghost (9.1m monthly listeners and a US No.1 and UK No.2 album this year). Osbourne claimed the genre has never received the attention it deserved.
“As far as the media goes, heavy music isn’t popular,” said Osbourne. “It’s never been that popular with the media, though I think the 1980s was the closest it ever got. The media doesn’t write that there’s an absolute resurgence for this music right now, with bands headlining stadiums all over the world.
"They never get written about because it’s not in vogue right now. They focus on all the girls [pop stars] out there. I’m not taking anything away from them, as they’re there for a totally different audience and great at what they do, but it’s just like a box of dolls, very cookie cutter. Meanwhile, these bands – heavy bands – have always been the bastards of the music industry.”
Subscribers can read the full interview with Sharon Osbourne and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi in the July edition of Music Week.
