Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025
Stage: Back To The Beginning Main Stage
Artist: OZZY OSBOURNE (THE PRINCE. THE LEGEND. THE RETURN.)
Time: Sundown ’til souls rose 🌙✨
🕯️ “I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE… I’M F***ING OZZY!” – THE HOMECOMING WE DIDN’T KNOW WE NEEDED 🦇🥹
Ozzy Osbourne. Back in Birmingham. On his own terms.
Villa Park felt less like a stadium and more like a cathedral of love, riffs, and legend worship. Thousands of fans – young and old, tattooed and teary-eyed – came to witness the unthinkable: Ozzy on stage again. Solo. Strong. And still the f*ing man.**
The moment he shuffled out, arms wide like a glitter-drenched vampire pope, and croaked,
“Hello Birminghaaaaaam! I’M BACK!”
you could feel every hair on every arm stand to attention.
🧙♂️ THE SETLIST – SOLO HITS, SABBATH LOVE, AND PURE EMOTION
- I Don’t Know
- Mr. Crowley (those keys! those solos! those lasers!)
- No More Tears
- Bark at the Moon 🐺🌕
- Flying High Again
- Patient Number 9
- Shot in the Dark
- Mama, I’m Coming Home (Villa Park wept – no joke 😭)
- Dreamer
- Crazy Train 🚂🤘
- Paranoid (yep. He went there. Sabbath classic, just for us.)
- Encore: Changes (acoustic with pre-recorded duet from Sharon 😭😭)
🎤 OZZY – AGED, SHAKY… AND STILL ABSOLUTELY ICONIC 🖤
Let’s not lie – Ozzy’s voice isn’t what it was. His walk’s a slow wobble.
But none of that mattered. Because his spirit? Still louder than a thousand Marshall stacks.
He gave every ounce of himself. Clapping out of time? Who cares. Singing a few notes off? Irrelevant.
The sheer joy, grit and bloody heart he put into the performance made it one of the most emotional gigs we’ve ever seen.
🎸 ZAKK WYLDE – THE GUARDIAN OF THE RIFF
Zakk returned as Ozzy’s axe-wielding knight once again, melting faces and holding it down like the demon Viking he is.
His solos on “No More Tears” and “Mr. Crowley”? Filthy. Heavenly. Transcendent.
He even gave Ozzy a cheeky hug mid-set and shouted:
“You can’t kill the f***ing Prince of Darkness!”
Amen to that, butt. 🙏
🧟♂️ THE CROWD – A MASS OF LOVE, TEARS & LUNACY
People cried. People chanted. People held signs like “WELCOME HOME OZZY”, “YOU RAISED ME”, and “I WENT OFF THE RAILS FOR YOU”.
There were toddlers on shoulders, old-school Brummies in full Sabbath denim, and even one lad dressed as Bark at the Moon Ozzy with glittering fangs.
During “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” strangers were hugging. Blokes with beers were full-on sobbing into their mates’ leather jackets.
You don’t get that for anyone else. Only Ozzy.
💥 THE HIGHLIGHTS – MOMENTS THAT BROKE US
- A pre-recorded message from Tony Iommi, Geezer, and Bill Ward played on the big screen before “Paranoid.” Everyone lost it.
- “Dreamer” was performed under a light show of stars, planets, and galaxies – with Ozzy whispering: “This one’s for the next generation of weirdos.”
- Ozzy’s mic cut out for a second… the crowd sang for him. He cried. We all did.
- Final bow? Ozzy knelt. Looked around. Said, “Thank you for waiting. I love you forever.”
🎯 FINAL VERDICT: THE PRINCE CAME HOME – AND WE’LL NEVER FORGET IT 🖤
No fancy tricks. No dancers. No ego. Just Ozzy f*ing Osbourne**, 76 years young, baring his soul in his home city.
He didn’t just perform – he reminded us what rock means.
That it’s about survival. About spirit. About singing through the pain, even when your knees hurt and your voice wobbles.
Score: 20/10 Bats, Ballads & Bloody Beautiful Madness 🦇🎤
Mood: Overwhelmed. Inspired. Home.
Diolch, Ozzy. For the riffs, the tears, the chaos – and for never forgetting where you came from. 🖤
