{"id":926867,"date":"2026-10-13T17:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/926867\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T17:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:22:10","slug":"sharon-osbourne-talks-ozzy-black-sabbath-back-to-the-beginning-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/926867\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Osbourne Talks Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back to the Beginning Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLast summer, Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> played his final concert, a supersized stadium show to 44,000 fans in his hometown of Birmingham, England with a stacked lineup that rivaled only his own Ozzfest festivals. Metallica, Guns N\u2019 Roses, Slayer, Mastodon, and supergroups arranged by Tom Morello that included Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar, and estranged members of Osbourne\u2019s solo bands performed his hits.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 10-hour event, dubbed Back to the Beginning<\/a>, ended with Osbourne singing a handful of his solo hits and a reunion of Osbourne with Black Sabbath\u2019s founding members. It made for an emotional and stunning farewell for the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness, who had been suffering from multiple health setbacks<\/a> and died 17 days later<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe event was livestreamed and proceeds from ticket sales to the concert and stream went to charity. Now footage from the concert is coming out as the two-and-a-half\u2013hour Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back to the Beginning <\/a>concert film<\/a> featuring performances by every artist who performed that day. Osbourne\u2019s family is hosting a \u201cpurple carpet\u201d world premiere of the film at Los Angeles\u2019 Orpheum Theatre on Wednesday. (Half of the proceeds from ticket sales to the premiere<\/a> will benefit homeless charities.) The film will then open in movie theaters around the world<\/a> on Oct. 28.<\/p>\n

\n\tOsbourne\u2019s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne<\/a>, has spent the last year grieving the loss of her best friend. \u201cIt\u2019s been very, very tough,\u201d she tells Rolling Stone. \u201cBut you know what? I had 46 years of marriage with an amazing guy, so I was blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe has yet to watch the two documentaries she and Ozzy participated in, in the months prior to his death: Paramount+\u2019s Ozzy: No Escape from Now and the BBC\u2019s Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home. \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d she says, \u201cI\u2019m just not ready mentally.\u201d But she has watched Back to the Beginning, which filmmaker Ben Wainwright-Pearce (Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour) directed and mixed in 5.1 surround sound.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a rare interview about Ozzy ahead of the film\u2019s release, Sharon tells Rolling Stone how Ozzy saw the whole day as a great achievement. \u201cIt\u2019s just something that will stand the test of time,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was groundbreaking for what it was. Like everything with Ozzy, he\u2019s the first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tHow have you been holding up in the past year?
It\u2019s been very, very tough. It\u2019s something in life that everyone has to go through, grief, but I\u2019ve had a lot of other things going on \u2014 not just grief \u2014 but things that have come out about bad advice being handled by people that were not what I thought. It\u2019s amazing that when somebody passes, you see all the bad things that were going on around that person. I\u2019m in a lot of litigation right now with a lot of businesspeople, and it\u2019s just ugly. Ugly.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis film has been in the works for months. How has the process been for you?
It was very hard to watch a lot of this film. I had to, but it was very, very hard.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s bittersweet. It\u2019s amazing. Everything about the show was amazing and just a joyous occasion and one that will go down in music history. I\u2019m proud of that and that it was for my husband, and I\u2019m so thankful to everyone that took part in it, for their time, their effort, their giving.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe most precious thing we all have is time, and I keep telling my children this. For people to give up days of their lives for us for free, for charity is an amazing thing. Then to see where that money went and what it meant to so many different people, it\u2019s all just overwhelming, but in a great, positive way.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did it take to get Ozzy to that show?
He was in hospital in America before he left. We moved back to England, and we had a whole new team of doctors. His new doctors didn\u2019t want to take doctor\u2019s notes from America. They wanted to make their own assessment on him. He was in hospital for a week in England.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter he came out of hospital, they asked for a meeting, and they came to our house. We had six different doctors and, like, a quarterback, because there were all of these specialists for the heart, for Parkinson\u2019s, for his lungs, because of all the different things that were wrong with him.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey advised us not to do the show. They said it would kill him. We were all together and Ozzy said, \u201cIt\u2019s not an option. It\u2019s what I want.\u201d He said, \u201cI know I\u2019m dying. If I miss a few months of my life, I want to go this way. This is what I want.\u201d It was his wishes and we went through it. He said to me, \u201cAnother six months, what\u2019s it going to do for me?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor him to make that decision and perform must have been emotional.
He was very, very emotional. But you know what? It was beautiful too. It was amazing. How lucky was he to go out that way? I say he went out like a Viking. It was the way he wanted.<\/p>\n

\n\tOzzy always used to say, \u201cI\u2019m one lucky motherfucker. Who else has had my life? I got everything I dreamed about.\u201d He had no regrets about anything. He knew what his destiny was. He chose it.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe sounded good at the concert, too.
We\u2019re talking about a guy that had hardly any lungs left. He had emphysema. I don\u2019t know how he did it. But he did it, and it\u2019s what he wanted.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd in that way it\u2019s glorious. It\u2019s not sad. If we all have a chance to pick the way we go out \u2026 Do you know what I\u2019m saying? It was a triumph to be surrounded by your friends, your family, your fans that adore you and what you are doing that day. It\u2019s just amazing. It\u2019s not sad. He was blessed to be able to choose the way you die.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was Ozzy doing in the hours before his performance?
He was in his dressing room the whole day watching everybody on the screens in his dressing room, and he just was like a fan. He was a fan of everybody that was there onstage. He was like, \u201cOh, my God. I can\u2019t believe they\u2019ve just done that number and this and that,\u201d commenting the whole way. He saw everybody. He was just elated with it.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Doctors] advised us not to do the show. They said it would kill him. We were all together and Ozzy said, \u201cIt\u2019s not an option. It\u2019s what I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharon Osbourne<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat struck you about the performances when you watched it all again?
The love and the respect that was there. It was old friends seeing other friends. It was just amazing for everyone that was there, for all the guys, and everyone. It was just a great day.<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, it was more than a great day; basically, it was Ozzy\u2019s goodbye, and he knew it was his goodbye. My kids didn\u2019t know. We didn\u2019t tell the children. We didn\u2019t tell anyone. But we knew what was going on. Sabbath didn\u2019t know, nothing. But again, it\u2019s not sad. Look at him, a Viking to the end.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did it mean to him for that final performance to be with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward \u2014 the original Black Sabbath bandmates<\/a>?
It had to end with Black Sabbath. That\u2019s where it had begun. He desperately, desperately wanted to play with Bill. No matter what had gone on with Bill, there was never a week that Ozzy didn\u2019t speak to him.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think Ozzy was the one that spoke to everyone, because I know Geezer doesn\u2019t like talking on the phone too much, and Tony likes his privacy, and so Ozzy really was the one that spoke to everyone. I\u2019m not saying this to sound bad, it\u2019s just that they\u2019re not the guys that check in weekly with each other. There\u2019s a love, there\u2019s always that invisible thread that holds them all together, but Ozzy was the chatty one.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was a handful of guys that he would talk to regularly \u2026 Jonathan [Davis] from Korn and Slash and Zakk [Wylde], absolutely weekly, always. Tony, too. He would text Tony all the time. They would send each other silly things from online shit, and they\u2019d giggle about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatching Black Sabbath\u2019s set that day, you could see the camaraderie between the four of them.
They don\u2019t need to say anything to each other. They just look at each other and know.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did he say after he performed?
He just kept saying, \u201cI did it. I did it.\u201d The next 17 days, he was so, so happy. He was just elated. He just couldn\u2019t believe how everybody turned out for him. It was glorious to see how happy he was, because he\u2019d been so depressed, so down. Last night, I read a letter from a fan who was at the show, and this fan said, \u201cI saw a young man trapped in an old man\u2019s body.\u201d That\u2019s so true.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you feel when you saw the final cut, in 5.1 surround sound?
I was in awe of it all. In awe. Did it really happen? Am I going to fucking wake up in a minute? It was so immense, the whole thing. But as I keep saying, gloriously so.<\/p>\n

\n\tI feel that I never, ever thank these guys enough for making it a reality: Every single person, every crew member, the caterers, the crew, the truck drivers, everybody was just fucking awesome. The musicians, come on, look who was there: Sammy Hagar, Steven Tyler, just the greatest guys that are good, good guys, everyone. It was great to see [former Ozzy band members] Jake E. Lee, Rudy [Sarzo]. It was just unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSharon at Back to the Beginning<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOliver Halfin<\/p>\n

\n\tHow involved were you in which performances made the cut?
Everybody that performed is seen on the film. Everybody. It\u2019s so hard to say, \u201cI\u2019m not going to put them in and them in.\u201d No, because every single person helped make money for charity that day and was there out of love for my husband and Sabbath. So no, I couldn\u2019t do that. But of course, we couldn\u2019t show the whole day [since] it\u2019s 10 hours.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhich tribute performances impressed you?
Oh my God, there so many great, great performances. It was just overwhelming. Even down to when the drummers were up there, Travis [Barker] and Chad [Smith] and Danny [Carey]. Everything was just great that day. Without Tom Morello, without [Live Nation promoter] Andy Copping, it would never have happened.<\/p>\n

\n\tTom Morello was an absolute saint and he is incredible. His sense of music and of what\u2019s right and what\u2019s not right, he\u2019s just an incredible person. He needs a sainthood. He is the saint of metal. He\u2019s so wise and knows what he\u2019s talking about on so many different levels.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndy Copping, who has been in our lives forever too, from Live Nation, he is just an incredible music man. There\u2019s not one band on that show that wasn\u2019t a friend of Andy\u2019s. Even though he works for Live Nation, a huge corporation, everybody adores Andy Copping. He\u2019s one of the most famous promoters in the world. He\u2019s just the best.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey put together a great lineup. I was impressed with each new band added.
We really, really wanted Megadeth. There was no time, we couldn\u2019t fit everybody in on one day. There were so many bands that were due to play that we just couldn\u2019t because there was not enough time.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe artists who did perform seem almost like a \u201cThis is your life\u201d moment for Ozzy.
Exactly, and it was for a great cause<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen you watched the film, did it feel like Ozzy was still with you?
He ain\u2019t left me for a minute. I go to sleep wearing his T-shirts. I wake up wearing his glasses. I\u2019m surrounded by him always. That\u2019s why there\u2019s nothing to be sad. I was blessed to have him in my life, and nothing is forever. It\u2019ll be my time soon, and it\u2019s the circle. That\u2019s what happens with everyone. It was just my time to lose the love of my life, but you go on.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut look at what I had, what I still have. Look at what he left everyone, a great body of work, that fucking smile of his. I always say you didn\u2019t have to like Ozzy\u2019s music to like Ozzy. You just liked him. Look at the amount of musicians that he has worked with; there\u2019s three guys that never liked him, and that\u2019s a fucking great record to have. When you think of everybody\u2019s life who he touched as a musician, and only three of them didn\u2019t like him, it\u2019s like, fucking hell, when I go, there\u2019s going to be fucking thousands. But three guys? I can fucking live with that.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat would Ozzy say if he saw this film?
He would say, \u201cHow lucky am I?\u201d He goes, \u201cI\u2019m one lucky son of a bitch.\u201d And he knew it. He never took anything for granted, ever.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019d say, \u201cLook at me. Look at my life. Look at my family that I have, my friends that I have, my fans. I have nothing to complain about. Not one fucking thing.\u201d Even when he was in agony with his health, his last six years, there was so much pain in his body. He suffered greatly. But he was still like, \u201cHey, I can\u2019t fucking complain. This is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tI said to him, \u201cIf you could do it all again, if you could have not done the drugs and the drink, would you?\u201d He goes, \u201cFuck it. I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last summer, Ozzy Osbourne played his final concert, a supersized stadium show to 44,000 fans in his hometown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136,6815,15580],"class_list":["post-926867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-ozzy-osbourne","tag-sharon-osbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}