Date: July 5, 2025Location: Villa Park, BirminghamStage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: ANTHRAX (USA)Time: Somewhere between “Caught in a Mosh” and a nuclear detonation ⚡“WE’RE ANTHRAX… AND THIS IS WHAT WE DO!” – THRASH LEGENDS LEVEL BIRMINGHAM 🔥 If you didn’t come prepared to headbang until your spine filed for divorce, Anthrax made sure […]

Date: July 5, 2025Location: Villa Park, BirminghamStage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: MASTODON (USA)Time: Somewhere between ancient prophecy and space-time rupture 🌋 “BIRMINGHAM, ARE YOU READY TO BE ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED?” – MASTODON BRING THE COSMIC SLUDGE TO VILLA PARK 🌪️ You could feel it coming. Like tectonic plates shifting under your feet, the tension […]

💥 Metallica. Slayer. Megadeth. Anthrax.The four horsemen of thrash. The titans who defined an entire genre. And on Sunday, July 4th, 2010, they all took to the same UK stage for the first time ever at the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, England. Let that sink in. It was the thrash Avengers Assemble moment, and for […]

By The Riff Report Blog – Suns out, riffs out! ☀️🔥 Ah July… festival season’s at full tilt, sweat is dripping off cymbals, and somewhere, a guitarist is shirtless by the third track. But while you’re dodging warm pints and sunburn, don’t forget — some of the biggest legends in rock and metal were born […]

Liam switched things up for Night Two at Principality Stadium – and the real fans clocked it 👀🔥 Cardiff, you lucky sods. Not only did you get two nights of a reunited Oasis roaring through the Principality Stadium like it was 1996 all over again… but you also got a cheeky setlist shake-up that had […]

The Riff Report’s Loud, Tired & Slightly Delirious Guide to Escaping Brum After a Gig You’ve moshed. You’ve cried. You’ve sang your heart out to Ozzy, Green Day, or Liam Gallagher (depending on your vibe). You’ve dodged crowd surfers, spilled beer, and someone’s inflatable flamingo. Now it’s time for the real challenge… Getting the hell […]

Alright, I’ve gotta say it before I burst: if you tuned into the Guns N’ Roses live stream hoping for a night of raw, rebellious rock ‘n’ roll, chances are you ended up wondering if your gran had left the telly on the wrong channel again. 🤨 Because honest to Slash, all I could hear […]

“My dad went into debt for my first microphone.” – Ozzy Osbourne Let that one sink in for a sec. Before the bat-biting, arena-filling madness, Ozzy Osbourne was just a lad from Aston, Birmingham, with big dreams and a dad who believed in him enough to go into debt for a microphone. And now? That […]

Here’s your spicy, saucy, and slightly unhinged tour of the best curry houses in Birmingham. We’ve done the hard work (and the heartburn) so you don’t have to… 😅 🥇 Lasan – The Michelin Darling 📍 3–4 Dakota Buildings, James St, B3 1SD💰 £££ | 🏆 Michelin Guide RecommendedThis is where curry wears a tuxedo. […]

July 5th, 2025. A date that will go down in metal history. The day the gods of heavy metal – Black Sabbath – return home to Villa Park, Birmingham for one last apocalyptic blowout. A Brummie farewell. A thunderous goodbye. A homecoming steeped in legend. And you, dear reader… don’t have a ticket. 😱 I […]

Live from Villa Park, Birmingham – July 5, 2025Diolch, legends. You’ve melted our faces one last time. 🕊️ Here it is, mun — every single performance and every song played at one of the most iconic metal events of all time. A global farewell to the Prince of Darkness, a thunderous goodbye from the Birmingham […]

🏴 “Where everyone’s welcome – even if you’re wearing a bucket hat AND a Slayer tee.” 😎🎸🍻 Today at Fuel Club Cardiff, something lush is going down. A musical meltdown of epic proportions – Oasis fans and metalheads under one roof, dancing, chanting, moshing, and maybe even crying into their pints together. 🥲🍺 You’ve got […]

“You can’t top that.” Honestly, we could end the blog post there. Done. Mic drop. Because when Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy bloody Osbourne show up in person to sign a massive mural of themselves in their hometown of Birmingham… what else is there to say, mun? But we’re The Riff Report, […]

⚒️ Where to Eat, Drink, and Soak in the Brummie Chaos Before the Gig It’s finally here, mun. Black Sabbath, the mighty architects of heavy metal, are heading Back to the Beginning with their FINAL hometown gig at Villa Park, Birmingham. The guitars will growl, the drums will shake the earth, and Ozzy might forget […]

July 5, 2025 | Birmingham | 35,000 Fans | 1 Last Riff “Is this the end, or just the beginning?” Turns out, for Black Sabbath – the gods of heavy metal and Brum’s loudest export – it was both. “Back to the Beginning” wasn’t just a gig. It was a metal funeral, feast, and family […]