Mick Hartley

I've never been a Heavy Metal fan, but it's not hard to get the appeal: thundering riffs and doom-laden minor chords, combined – a very British touch – with the kind of cod gothic horror that comes straight from those Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing Hammer films. So it was lovely to see the warm reviews of yesterday's Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath farewell concert at Villa Park.

Stephen Dalton in the Sunday Times:

Never mind those over-hyped Oasis gigs, there was only one truly historic rock comeback show over the weekend as Birmingham’s Villa Park football stadium hosted Back to the Beginning, an all-star heavy rock gathering that reunited the full original line-up of the local heroes Black Sabbath for the first time in 20 years, and the last time ever.

This sold-out, all-day charity benefit event was essentially the retirement party for the band’s 76-year-old singer and international treasure Ozzy Osbourne, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, and now has limited mobility.

It is no exaggeration to call Black Sabbath the Beatles of heavy metal, their hugely influential legacy reflected in the multigenerational cast list of superstar head-bangers who came to pay tribute at Villa Park, all working for free. Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Anthrax, Slayer, Alice in Chains and many others performed short sets of about 20 to 30 minutes, each including at least one Sabbath or Ozzy song.

Playing for free? Yep – all the money goes to a Parkinson's charity & two local children’s charities.

Neil McCormick in the Telegraph:

The mood in the stadium was fantastic. It was packed all day long with fans keen to see everything on offer, and bands honoured to play tribute to the original heavy metal hero. We were rewarded with blistering, impactful and unusually short and direct sets from such metal monsters as Pantera, Slayer and Tool, rock giants Guns ‘N Roses, and a brutally brilliant Metallica, with everybody adding Black Sabbath covers to their sets.

There were slickly rehearsed supergroup sets featuring members of Rage Against The Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Living Colour, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith and a sprightly appearance by Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, who has never knowingly missed an opportunity to whip out his slide guitar. An energetic Steve Tyler ripping through Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love with Chad Smith on drums and Tom Morello on guitar was phenomenally good fun.

And then there was Ozzy as heavy metal’s mad King Lear, raging against the inevitable end. It was sad. It was glorious. We really will not see his like again.

Compare and contrast with Glastonbury. No Palestine flags, no Israel death chants, no Palestine Action speakers. Just people at a music festival having a great time.

And – ooh yes – class. It's not so easy nowadays to talk about class in Britain, but here we are. Glastonbury is defiantly, stereotypically, middle class, while heavy metal has always been a working class genre – here in the UK, at least. And, as Villa Park shows, the fans, despite the image, have always been the best.