Coming Home - Highlights from Ozzy Osbourne's Farewell
credit: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Jul. 8, 2025
There could be no better way for Ozzy Osbourne to retire than by performing his greatest songs from a throne surrounded by his peers, his followers, his family, and his fans. The Prince of Darkness has lived an impossibly long and even faster life -- snorting ants with Mötley Crüe, peeing on The Alamo, mistakenly biting bats, purposefully biting doves, and effectively inventing Rock and Roll with the band Black Sabbath.
You'd be hard pressed to come up with a performer who transitioned from frontman to solo act with the worldwide impact that Ozzy had. His Sabbath albums are among the darkest, heaviest, and most tuneful of any era, and he moved on to a decades-long solo career by surrounding himself with spectacular guitarists and a gothic atmosphere of crosses, leather, blood and showmanship.
Thankfully this is not a eulogy, but a celebration of the man while he is still among the living, and what better way to go out than with a loud, chaotic, hit-filled homecoming concert packed with heavy bands performing their own tunes as well as peppering in some Sabbath and Ozzy classics. Here are some of our hand-picked favorites.
Kicking off the "Back to the Beginning" concert was Mastodon with their drummer-led cover of "Supernaut" from Sabbath's Vol. 4.
Another highlight was the heavy dirge "Electric Funeral" from Paranoid, performed by fuzzed-out classic rock revivalists (and onetime Black Sabbath opening act), Rival Sons.
The soaring and bizarro mid-'90s ode to the TV detective Perry Mason from Osbourne's 1995 album Ozzmosis was given a thorough ass-kicking by metal quartet Halestorm and led by powerhouse (similarly-named) vocalist/guitarist Lzzy Hale.
Jack Black put together a pre-taped segment featuring Roman Morello (son of Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello), Revel Ian (son of Anthrax's Scott Ian), internet drum phenom Yoyoka Soma and Hugo Weiss (reported to be the son of Game of Thrones co-creator D.B. Weiss) to perform a pitch-perfect version of "Mr. Crowley" (complete with bedazzled "OZZY" jumpsuit).
Few active bands have been through the ringer as much as Alice in Chains, but vocalist William DuVall (been in the band for almost two decades, thank you very much) fronts a terrific crunching cover of "Fairies Wear Boots" and featuring a note-perfect solo from guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
An ugly, brooding performance of "Hand of Doom" was expertly performed by Tool, with frontman Maynard James Keenan offering a fitting tribute filtered through his own inimitable voice.
Darlings of the Paris Olympic Opening Ceremonies Gojira stomped through a heavier-than-thou rendition of the swirling "Under the Sun."
In the most poignant moment of the evening, Ozzy himself pushed through his most empathetic song "Mama, I'm Coming Home." Ably assisted by longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde, the crowd chimes in en masse during the choruses, drowning out the band.
Black Sabbath opened their epic set with the timeless warning "War Pigs," featuring Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and (as a highlight to many concertgoers) the return of drummer Bill Ward.
The night rounded out with "Paranoid" from the album of the same name, arguably the song for which Sabbath is best known. Ozzy can be seen performing his legendary long-armed hand claps and genuinely seems to be delighted and moved by the entire event.
In a perfect world, we'd all be able to send our elder rock statesmen into the void with a loving and rocking tribute such as this, so it feels great to see Ozzy get the farewell he deserves while he is still around to enjoy it.