Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s Final Concert Headed to the Big Screen

Ozzy Osbourne‘s emotional goodbye to his fans will be the subject of the upcoming concert film Back to the Beginning, which will hit movie theaters beginning on Oct. 28. Osbourne headlined the star-studded Back to the Beginning concert, performing a solo set and one with the original lineup of Black Sabbath, in his hometown of Birmingham, England last July less than three weeks before his death. 

Tickets for screenings go on sale at 10 a.m. ET on Sept. 24. Full details are on the Back to the Beginning website.

“Back to the Beginning came about because I asked Ozzy what would really make him happy,” Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne’s wife and manager, said in a statement. “And he said the only thing that would make him happy was if he could perform again and say goodbye to his fans. That’s all he wanted to do. He wanted to say goodbye and thank you.”

The day-long concert at Birmingham’s Villa Park stadium featured performances by Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Pantera, Anthrax, Halestorm, Yungblud, and many others. The music director for the concert was Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, who commented in a statement that “there’s never been a precedent for a show like this.” It all led up to Osbourne’s solo set and four songs by Black Sabbath.

“It was a closure for the band, and it was a good way to go out, I think,” Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said in a statement.

“To me it was like pure love,” the band’s bassist, Geezer Butler, said. “It was just a wave of love. It’s the only way I can describe it really. I mean I could feel it as if it is like tangible.”

“[I] felt completely at home in a place where I belong,” drummer Bill Ward said. “It almost felt like I was in a dream.”
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Filmmaker Ben Wainwright-Pearce, whose credits include Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and George Michael: The Faith Tour, directed the concert film. The live concert footage, which was livestreamed during the concert, was directed by Tim van Someren. The movie presentation will feature Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound to bring the stadium feel of the performance to the big screen.

Rolling Stone praised the original concert in a review. “For all the false farewells and goodbyes in his career, there was something so final about this one that added a crushing poignancy to the night,” the magazine said. “The great tragedy is that so often such legends die before celebrations on this level can take place, yet by some great miracle or divine intervention Ozzy Osbourne was here to take his final bow with his own tribe.”