Back To The Beginning was dubbed the “greatest heavy metal show ever” by musical director Tom Morello, and it has the lineup to prove it.
The headliner of the one-day festival in Birmingham, England, is the original lineup of Black Sabbath — singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward — performing together for the first time in 20 years to celebrate Ozzy’s final live performance.
There’s also Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, and Mastodon, as well as additional performances from The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Faith No More’s Mike Bordin, Ghost’s Papa V Perpetua, Sammy Hagar, Wolfgang Van Halen, and many more.
“It’s my time to go Back To The Beginning… time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Ozzy said in a statement. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love? Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”
Tickets for Back To The Beginning, which takes place in Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5, go on sale on Friday, February 14, at 10 a.m. GMT. Proceeds will go towards Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice. You can find more information here.
