Black Sabbath fans have been left livid while trying to secure tickets to their final ever gig in Birmingham this summer. Rocker Ozzy Osbourne 76 is reuniting with his Black Sabbath bandmates one last time to play a fundraising concert in Birmingham on 5 July. The heavy mental legends will headline a one-day festival at Villa Park, featuring dozens of bands they inspired, including Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Gojira and Anthrax.
However, there has already been much controversy ahead of ticket sales as prices have risen to an eye-watering £795 for one ticket alone. Some of the tickets range in price from £495 to £795 if you book a package. The proceeds from the gig will be split equally across three charities -Birmingham Children's Hospital, Acorn Children's Hospice and Cure Parkinson's - a cause that is close to Ozzy's heart as he has lived with Parkinson's since 2020.
As presale tickets finally went on sale on Tuesday morning, hundreds of fans were left disappointed after endless ticket queues and soaring prices left them empty-handed. The prices started at £197.50 and went all the way up to £834. Taking to X, music fans shared their annoyance as one Black Sabbath fan wrote: "Black Sabbath tickets from £197.50 to £834. Bloody hell.". Another fumed: "Jumped in the Black Sabbath tickets presale queue for sh*** and giggles just to see how long it is and there are 34k ppl ahead of me. Thoughts and prayers to those who want tickets holy sh**.".
"Man, I knew black sabbath tickets were gonna be expensive but over 800 pounds for tickets is actually a crime wtf," another complained. Someone else slammed the Ticketmaster website as they wrote: "In the sale for Black Sabbath for the site to say it can’t load tickets, what’s going on.". Another music fan gasped: "Tickets are £197 - £834 for the black sabbath show??? what that f***." Someone else raged: "Ticketmaster are the worst. Why do they have monopoly on tickets still??? Almost got to the front of the queue for Black Sabbath tickets and been stuck on this number for 10 mins now. Closing and refreshing does nothing.".
The exciting concert will mark the first time that Black Sabbath's original line-up - Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward - have played together in over 20 years. Ozzy, who has been forced to halt touring due to a combination to his Parkinson's battle, is set to play a short solo set before joining his bandmates on stage for the epic reunion. “It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning….time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Ozzy Osbourne said. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”.
His comeback was announced at Villa Park by his wife, Sharon, and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi. She told BBC News: "He's doing great. He's doing really great. He's so excited about this, about being with the guys again and all his friends. It's exciting for everyone. Ozzy didn't have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there's no been no full stop. This is his full stop.".
Revealing more details about the upcoming concert, she added: "It's an endless amount of people. They're going to be doing some Sabbath songs, some Ozzy songs, and they'll all mix together. Different little groups will be coming on, but they're all icons.". Standard ticket prices for the show have yet to be released and fans will be able to snap up a maximum of six each when they go on general sale on Friday, February 14.
