Ozzy Osbourne has reunited with Black Sabbath and performed his final gig – telling fans “you’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart”, in an emotional but truly metal goodbye.

Announced earlier this year, Back To The Beginning at Villa Park stadium was billed as the “final bow” for the man revered as a founder of heavy metal after several years of health problems, including Parkinson’s disease.

Rising up on a black throne featuring jewelled skulls, the 76-year-old performed a solo set before being joined by his original bandmates – Terence “Geezer” Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – for Black Sabbath’s first performance in 20 years.

“Let the madness begin,” Osbourne cried as he appeared for the first time, telling about 40,000 fans: “It’s so good to be on this stage.”

With the crowd chanting his name, he performed both sets sitting down, but the voice and the crazed glint in his eyes were there almost throughout.

Singing fan favourites including Mr Crowley and Crazy Train, and Iron Man and Paranoid with Black Sabbath, Osbourne conducted the crowd to sing “louder, louder”, and “go f****** crazy”.

This was an orchestrated exit by heavy metal’s biggest character, with a supporting line-up of hard rock luminaries – from Slayer and Halestorm to Metallica and Guns ‘n’ Roses, plus stars including Steven Tyler, Ronnie Wood, Yungblud, Travis Barker and Chad Smith, who showed up for “supergroup” performances.

Many said they would not be the musicians they are without Osbourne and Black Sabbath.

“You know, there’s not another guy as respected in metal as Ozzy Osbourne,” former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar told Sky News just ahead of his performance. “And for him to be sick and to be saying, I’m out, I’m done. Man. There’s no one else that can replace that.”

“Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica,” said frontman James Hetfield during their performance.

“We’re not here to say goodbye,” said Anthrax’s Scott Ian. “We’re just here to say thank you.”

Throughout the day, giant Ozzy and Black Sabbath beach balls, in the Aston Villa claret and blue, were bounced around a jubilant crowd.

Tributes from other celebrity friends and fans, from Billy Idol and Ricky Gervais to Dolly Parton and Sir Elton John, were played on screen.

Read more: From Black Sabbath’s Prince of Darkness to reality TV star

Hollywood actor Jason Momoa, who hosted the event, told the crowd heavy metal had been a “safehaven” for many growing up, and Black Sabbath’s music had “influenced and inspired musicians” of all eras and genres.

The farewell show was the idea of Osbourne’s wife, Sharon – one final gig to finish his performing career on a high – after he was forced to cancel shows he had planned in 2023, telling fans he “never imagined” his touring days would end that way.

Sharon Osbourne told Sky News earlier this year that his one regret was not being able to say a thank you to his fans, and so the idea for the reunion gig was born.

Profits from the show will be shared between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn’s Children’s Hospice.

The gig came after the Black Sabbath band members were awarded the freedom of Birmingham earlier in June, recognised for their significance to the cultural and musical identity of the city they grew up in.

The group formed in 1968 and went on to become one of the most successful metal bands of all time, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide over the years.

They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 – Osbourne again later as a solo artist last year – and awarded a lifetime Ivor Novello songwriting award in 2015. In 2019, they were presented with a Grammy lifetime achievement prize.

Now, their first performance in 20 years will also be their last – one for the metal history books.

The show ended with fireworks and a roar from the crowd, who had chanted Ozzy’s name throughout.

For fans, Back To The Beginning capped it all – the ultimate rock and metal line-up, and one last opportunity to show their love for the Prince of Darkness.

“I feel lucky to be able to attend this,” said Calum Kennedy, 19, from Dunfermline. “It’s the biggest metal show known to man, [the biggest line-up] ever. I’ve never seen anything better.”

Read more from Sky News:
Oasis reunion: Ultimately, it was all about the music
BBC to stop showing ‘high risk’ performances live

Ben Sutton, 24, from Chester, added: “I feel like it’s important – we’re of the younger generation – for us to see some of the heritage and history of the genre we love, metal in general. It’s such an honour to say goodbye to him.”

Steve Townson, from Lincolnshire, said: “I saw him the first time round and the fact that he’s still going is incredible, isn’t it? I was there at the start, I’m happy to be here at the end.”

Oasis are set to kick off their reunion tour in Cardiff this weekend, with thousands expected to descend on the Welsh capital.

The 41-date Oasis Live 25 tour begins in the city on Friday and Saturday, amid warnings for people to plan ahead before they travel.

The Gallagher brothers’ last performance together was in 2009, and the tour sold out within hours of its announcement last August, with fans eager to catch a glimpse of the reunion.

But where is the tour heading – and why was Cardiff chosen as the city where the brothers will perform for the first time together in almost 16 years?

When does the tour start and where is it heading?

After Cardiff, Oasis will go on to perform at Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin on their UK and Ireland leg of the tour.

See below for a full list of tour dates:

Why was Cardiff picked as the first stop?

Asked on X in May why Cardiff was chosen as the location for the opening leg, Liam Gallagher said “because Cardiff is the bollox”.

Principality Stadium is a 74,500-seat venue, known as the home of Welsh rugby, which played host to Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift concerts last year.

Businesses in the area are hoping the arrival of Oasis will bring an influx of trade to the city.

Gary Corp, manager of the City Arms, told Sky News that he was expecting the concert would “treble if not quadruple the footfall on the street”.

Meanwhile, Ethan John, events manager at Tiny Rebel, said Oasis choosing Cardiff to kick off their tour was “surreal” and that previous events such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour had a “massive impact” on footfall.

What travel advice is there in Cardiff?

Train operators say trains will be busy and people should allow plenty of time for their journey home.

Georgie Wills, from Transport for Wales, said the company was “thrilled to welcome thousands to Cardiff this summer”.

“Look out for our queuing systems and travel tips – and let’s make it a safe and smooth experience for everyone,” she added.

Cardiff Council has confirmed that roads around the stadium will close from 12pm until 12am on both Friday and Saturday.

The road closures come into force three hours earlier than is planned for upcoming Stereophonics, Kendrick Lamar and Catfish and the Bottlemen concerts later this summer.

The Cardiff Bus Interchange will close at 3pm and Cardiff Queen Street railway station will close at 10pm (apart from accessible travel or journeys to Cardiff Bay).

What time does the show start and who are the support acts?

Principality Stadium’s doors open at 5pm on both Friday and Saturday.

The band will be supported by indie rock band Cast and Richard Ashcroft (who formed alternative rock band the Verve) in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin.

Cast start their Cardiff set at 6pm, followed by Richard Ashcroft at 7pm.

Oasis will take to the stage at 8.15pm, and should finish by 10.30pm.

American rock band Cage the Elephant will support Oasis in Canada, Mexico and at the Chicago gig.

They will be joined again by Cast for the East Rutherford and Pasadena dates.

Australian indie rock band Ball Park Music will support in Australia.

Are tickets still available for the shows?

The tour is sold out, but the band has said it is possible some additional tickets may be released.

In an Instagram post on 25 June, the band advised members of Oasismynet to “keep an eye” on their inbox.

The final releases would come “over the coming days” once production was “fine tuned”, the band said.

Read more from Sky News:
The Gallagher brothers back together
The story of the rock ‘n’ roll brothers so far

What’s the weather going to be like?

Cardiff is set to be cloudy with sunny intervals on Friday afternoon, with highs of 21C and lows of 15C.

On Saturday, however, it will be slightly cooler with light rain during the afternoon, before clearing up in the evening.

Listening to Noel Gallagher over the years, for a long time it didn’t feel like this was part of the masterplan.

He has spoken several times of the difficult decision he made to quit Oasis in 2009. The band was his life and the choice not made lightly, but ending things then was the best thing for everyone, he told Sky Arts a few years ago. The fact they didn’t continue was a big part of the reason they are now “up there with all the greats”.

The older Gallagher brother was well aware that the years apart – the brothers’ often funny but frustrating feud, the unanswered question of whether they would ever bury the hatchet and the hope that maybe, one day, it might just happen – all amplified their legend.

Rumours have come and gone over the years, propelled in no small part by messages from Liam Gallagher on social media. He often teased, but never made any secret of wanting to bring Oasis back. The sticking point seemed to be Noel.

But in 2022, Liam played gigs at Knebworth – the site of Oasis’s most famous, history-making gigs. Last year, he got in early to mark the anniversary of their debut album Definitely Maybe with his own solo tour, no sign of the man who wrote the songs.

Noel created the music; Liam brings it snarlingly, viscerally alive. Him doing those shows alone felt like it could be a death knell for a reunion. When asked about Liam by a fan during one of his shows with his current band, the High Flying Birds, last summer, Noel reportedly said his younger brother should be “thankful for my genius” and told the crowd: “Just remember who wrote all the f***ing songs.”

‘They hadn’t spoken in goodness knows how long’

Even last year’s new artwork for Definitely Maybe (pictured above), released for the 30th anniversary, showed a reworking of that famous album cover – shot at guitarist Bonehead’s house in Manchester – this time with the band members absent from the room. With no Liam on the floorboards, no Noel staring up at the spinning globe, it felt like a statement: Oasis really had left the building.

Designer Brian Cannon, who worked on the artwork for all of Oasis’s early music and now runs the Microdot memorabilia stores, says he was as surprised as anyone by the reunion announcement.

“A lot of people say to me, it’s all a big marketing ploy,” he says, of the brothers’ fall-out. “No, it isn’t, they genuinely hadn’t spoken to each other for goodness knows how long. And Noel’s got a very successful solo career that he’s very content with and doing very well. I didn’t see this coming, I really didn’t.”

Photographer Michael Spencer Jones, who captured the images for all the Oasis albums and singles in the band’s heyday, says the sibling rivalry was always there. “It’s such a major part of the potion that was Oasis.”

Read more:
Cool Britannia: Life in the UK in the ’90s
A timeline of Britpop’s most successful band

But there had been whispers for months, reports from industry insiders saying it was only a matter of time. In January 2023, Noel announced his separation from his now ex-wife Sara MacDonald, who did not get on with Liam, leading to speculation he might become more open to making amends.

Then last year, following reports of shows booked for Wembley, fans once again pointed to teases from Liam on social media – “I never did like that word FORMER” he posted in the days before the announcement – and an interview given by Noel in which he spoke in complimentary terms about his little brother’s voice: “When I’d sing a song it would sound good. When he’d sing it, it would sound great.”

Neither of these things made a reunion a certainty. While Noel may not have liked his brother at times, he never underestimated the shared power their bristling sibling rivalry brought to Oasis. “I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without him, he wouldn’t have got anywhere without me,” he told journalists at an awards ceremony in 2019.

‘The stars have aligned’ – but statement gives little away

Oasis in their heyday were like no other live band. The shows were electrifying, the energy raw, in an era of optimism and fun in the 1990s that the Gallagher brothers defined. In later years, Noel may not have been a fan of the Cool Britannia tag, but that’s exactly what it was.

So now, will this reunion just be about the gigs? Will there be new music? Could the Gallagher brothers even be friends again?

The reunion statement gave little away. “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.” Further details said there was “no great revelatory moment”, but rather “the gradual realisation that the time is right” – but the Gallaghers have still not really addressed the small matter of not being on speaking terms for years. We want to know who reached out first? How did they finally come to an agreement? And what did their mum, Peggy, say about her sons finally getting their acts together?

Whatever has happened behind the scenes, the frost has definitely thawed. In 2020, Liam said Oasis had been offered £100m to reform – a claim quickly denied by Noel, who suggested the remark was a publicity move to promote a single. The deal they have signed now is worth millions. But even before the announcement was made, Liam was quick to put anyone suggesting this was only about the money in their place.

“Your attitude stinks” was his reply to anyone questioning their motives. Positivity received a different response: “Your attitude is BIBLICAL.”

Read more:
‘Everyone was out of control in the ’90s’
The ‘unsolvable conundrum’ of Oasis’s biggest album

You only have to look at the crowds at Liam’s solo shows – full of teenagers, as well as those of us who were there the first time round – to see how the music has filtered through generations. The singer has said several times he would like younger fans to see the full Oasis live experience.

Now, they just have to deliver.

“There’s two schools of thoughts on this and at one time I would have fallen into the latter,” says Cannon. “One being: great, yes, fantastic. The second: no, leave it be, let it lie, it’s gone, you might tarnish the past.

“But. We’re living through strange times in this country at the minute, globally as well. There’s a lot of division, recent events have been quite shocking. [A reunion] will undoubtedly bring a lot of happiness to a lot of people and I’m all in favour of a lot of people being happy. So, yeah, it’s got to be a good thing.”

“There should be an album, I think,” says Spencer Jones. “It would be great if there was more music to come.”

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of their second album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Both Noel and Liam will be well aware of the expectation, how much these shows mean to fans.

Get them wrong, and there’s the potential for the legacy, the memories, to be spoiled.

Get them right, and Oasis live forever – all over again.