Not many bands have the chance to bid farewell on their own terms and be fully present in the moment during their last performance. Fortunately, Black Sabbath stands as an exception to this norm. In 2017, they had the opportunity to say goodbye exactly as they had always intended, with a final performance in Birmingham.
There are few less secure professions than being in a rock band. Typically, their stories reach a premature end due to creative differences and disagreements, which make their future untenable, or in some cases, an unthinkable tragedy strikes. In the case of Black Sabbath, they embarked upon an extensive world tour, which ended in Birmingham at the Genting Arena on February 7th, 2017.
Everyone in the building knew this would be the final time Black Sabbath would take to the stage, and there was nowhere more fitting for their story to conclude. On these same streets, Black Sabbath cut their teeth, honed their sound, and helped cook up a plan to bring heavy metal to the masses.
The performance offered a career-spanning set, with the group beginning proceedings with the opening track from their self-titled debut album. While they left the stage to a recording of ‘Zeitgeist’ from their final record, 13, the last song they physically performed to the Birmingham audience was their beloved anthem, ‘Paranoid’.
Ending the set with ‘Paranoid’ ensured their finale went off with a bang, and if any song in their catalogue typified the spirit of the band. Frontman Ozzy Osbourne once declared the track his favourite Black Sabbath creation, even describing ‘Paranoid’ as “my anthem”. Therefore, it made sense for them to select any other track as their closer.
Looking back on their final show, which was later released as a concert film, Osbourne told Kerrang: “Well, the weird thing about that last Sabbath gig was, we ended up where we started all those years ago – Birmingham. How can I say it? It was kind of emotional for me.”
“I thought, ‘Fucking Hell, when we started this thing, we had no idea it was gonna be as successful as it is, or last as fucking long!’ We never thought that there’d be this fucking folk-hero thing about it. We were four lads from Birmingham who reached this great height,” he added.
Osbourne continued: “I still can’t really accept the fact that it’s never gonna happen anymore. When you start a band, of course you want success, but to last as long as we have? It’s mind blowing! I had to really tone myself down on the day, because I started to get a bit emotion up there, you know?”
While all the members of Black Sabbath remain alive, the chances of the band regrouping currently look impossibly slim due to Osbourne’s health struggles. Nevertheless, another bite at the cherry could tarnish the legacy of their final show in Birmingham, which allowed Black Sabbath to say goodbye on an impeccable note.
Watch Black Sabbath perform ‘Paranoid’ for the final time below.
