Black Sabbath bow out with triumphant final show in Birmingham

Ending it where it all began, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi played an epic 15-song set at Birmingham’s Genting Arena that kicked off, fittingly, with the eponymous opening track from their self-titled 1970 masterpiece ‘Black Sabbath’ and wrapped up two hours later with a highly-charged rendition of ‘Paranoid’ as tickertape and balloons rained down.

The set-closer was live streamed on Black Sabbath’s Facebook page and, testament to their meteoric status, it has been viewed over 2.3million times and counting.

Visibly taken aback by the rapturous response from the crowd, Ozzy said: "Thank you, goodnight, thank you so much," while Geezer and Tony waved at the capacity audience.

> The final song and final bow pic.twitter.com/r0OJimzfjJ > > — BlackSabbath (@BlackSabbath) February 4, 2017

The show, just miles from where Sabbath met and formed almost 50 years ago, was the second at the Genting Arena and the culmination of the band’s sprawling The End Tour, which has taken in 81 dates across Australasia, Europe, North America and South America.

Billed as their last ever concert, speaking to Planet Rock’s Wyatt earlier this week, Tony Iommi said there could be a one-off show or maybe even new Black Sabbath music in the future.

“I like (playing on stage) and I’m sure it’s not going to end like that; I’m sure we might do a one-off show somewhere,” Tony said.

“It’s just the touring for me – it’s time to stop roaming the world and be at home for a bit... I’m still going to write and put stuff out.”

Asked whether Sabbath’s recording days are over, Tony added: “No, I don’t think we’ve ruled anything out apart from me not wanting to tour any more on that scale, but who knows, we may do something.

“We haven’t spoken about it - that’s another thing we haven’t talked about anything really that’s to do with what’s going to happen afterwards. But I’m sure something can happen somewhere.”

The setlist in Birmingham was:

Black Sabbath
Fairies Wear Boots
Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes
After Forever
Into the Void
Snowblind
War Pigs
Behind the Wall of Sleep & N.I.B.
Hand of Doom
Supernaut / Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Megalomania
Rat Salad
Iron Man
Dirty Women
Children of the Grave

Paranoid

As tribute to Black Sabbath, this week's My Planet Rocks is a special show from the vaults, featuring Ozzy, Tony and Geezer choosing the songs that inspired them. Listen to it here.