Ozzy Osbourne bids farewell to Black Sabbath at final Birmingham gig

It all ended with a final version of Paranoid , their greatest hit, concluding an evening that tore the hearts of the thousands of fans who came to Birmingham to attend the last concert of the band Black Sabbath and its leader Ozzy Osbourne . " I love you! " the singer said to the crowd on Saturday, July 5, who supported him every second of this " last show ", which he wanted in his city, surrounded by the biggest stars of metal.

At 76, the "Prince of Darkness"—his nickname—has suffered from Parkinson's disease for several years. The man who wrote his legend by biting off the head of a live bat in the middle of a concert sang while seated, imprisoned by his tremors, in a satanic throne made especially for him, his reddened eyes surrounded by black. A raw and moving farewell, accompanied by his Black Sabbath acolytes, in front of tens of thousands of metal fans who came from all over the world to commune with him in the Aston Villa football club's stadium, which resembled a pagan cathedral.

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" He could see our support and that's what made me cry ," says Lilly Chapman, 29, still emotional after seeing the "Godfather of Metal," another of his nicknames, " showing himself vulnerable in front of thousands of people ."

Heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath hadn't reunited with their original 1968 lineup—Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Lommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass, and Bill Ward on drums—for 20 years. A stunning lineup was assembled for the occasion: Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Pantera, Slayer, the French band Gojira, not to mention Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.

With each performance, the audience sang along to the familiar anthems, shaking their heads in unison, in an atmosphere that would have put the Villains' fans, the regular occupants of the venue, to shame. Everyone wore their appropriate metal T-shirts, with Black Sabbath winning by a wide margin. Long hair, thick beards, and oversized tattoos dominated the proceedings.

" It only happens once in a lifetime ," enthuses Rich Newlove, who came from the north of England. Ozzy " was fitter and healthier than I expected ," he says, confessing to a " bittersweet " feeling at the thought of seeing him for the first and last time. Some came from far away, like Jared Higginbotham, who flew in from Austin, Texas, with his girlfriend Janice Attal, for what they consider " the greatest metal concert of all time ." They followed the show from the grass. Others, less fortunate, consoled themselves outside the arena.

Because despite the very high prices, tickets for the event, organized the day after the first Oasis reunion concert in Cardiff (Wales), were snapped up in just 16 minutes. The funds will be donated to charities. Henry Broderick, a 22-year-old garbage collector from near Cambridge, says he paid 415 pounds for his ticket because " it was all that was left ." The price to pay to attend the last of Ozzy, a crazy icon, as famous for his antics as for his family reality show in the 2000s, The Osbournes , one of the biggest MTV hits, which allowed him to reach a new audience. His band, Black Sabbath, has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide, culminating in hits like Paranoid , War Pigs and Iron Man . He is considered the creator of heavy metal, a blend of rock and blues with heavy sounds and dark lyrics. A genre long reviled but immensely popular today.