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Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageArtist: 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...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: METALLICA (USA – The Kings. The Closers. The Absolute Unit.)Time: Somewhere after midnight, beneath fire, stars, and 70,000 horns in the air 🤘 🎸 “SEEK… AND DESTROOOOOY!” – METALLICA BRING THE FINAL KILL SHOT TO VILLA PARK 🎯🔥 There was only one way...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: Guns N’ Roses (aka “Who let this happen?”)Time: Somehow dragged on for 3 hours that felt like eternity in slow motion 🫠 🥀 “YOU’RE IN THE JUNGLE, BABY”… AND IT’S A SWAMP OF SADNESS 🐢 We’re not gonna sugarcoat it, butt – this...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: SLAYER (USA – THE RETURN. THE RECKONING.)Time: 00:66am – after midnight, after reason, after mercy ⚰️ 🧨 “SLAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYERRRRRR!” – THE WAR CRY HEARD ‘ROUND BIRMINGHAM 🗡️ They said they were done. They said the final tour in 2019 was the end. But you...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: TOOL (USA)Time: 11:11pm. Full moon. Phase-shifted reality. 🌕⏳ 🧠 “THINK FOR YOURSELF. QUESTION EVERYTHING.” – TOOL TRANSCEND REALITY IN BIRMINGHAM 🛸 If you were expecting circle pits and beer-fuelled chaos… you wandered into the wrong dimension, butt. TOOL didn’t just perform at Villa...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: PANTERA (USA / Legend Reforged)Time: Right between hellfire and the holy groove ⚡🤘 ⚔️ “RE… SPECT… WALK!” – PANTERA BRING THE DOMINATION BACK TO BIRMINGHAM 🐍 If you could bottle aggression, pour it over riffs the size of buildings, and light it with...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: SUPERGROUP B (Earth-shattering chaos from the UK + USA)Time: Time ceased to exist. The amps rewrote the laws of physics. ⏳💥 💣 “WE ARE SUPERGROUP B… AND WE DIDN’T COME HERE TO BE QUIET!” – METAL'S MOST UNLIKELY DREAM TEAM DELIVER CARNAGE 🎤...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageEvent: THE DRUM-OFF – YES. A literal drum war. Only in metal.Time: Somewhere between “soundcheck” and “someone summon the gods of thunder” ⚡ 🥁💣 “THIS ISN’T JUST A SOLO… IT’S A BATTLEFIELD!” – VILLA PARK HOSTS METAL’S MOST UNHOLY DRUM WAR ⚔️ You thought...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: GOJIRA (FRANCE)Time: Somewhere between tectonic shift and alien abduction 🌍👽 🦖 “WE ARE GOJIRA, AND WE ARE HERE TO BREAK THE PLANET!” – METAL’S ENVIRONMENTAL TITANS UNLEASH HELL IN BRUM 🌪️ We thought Villa Park had seen it all by the time Anthrax,...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: ALICE IN CHAINS (USA)Time: Twilight. Between shadow and scream. 🌘 🖤 “DOWN IN A HOLE, FEELIN’ SO SMALL…” – ALICE IN CHAINS LURED BIRMINGHAM INTO THE DARKNESS 🕳️ When the sun dipped behind Villa Park and the stage lights glowed blood red, something...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: SUPERGROUP A (UK + USA + Rock Olympus)Time: Somewhere between a rock dream and a hangover hallucination 🌀 🎸 “DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!” – SUPERGROUP A UNLEASH A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MEGASTORM 🌪️ We thought we’d seen it all by the time Slipknot’s...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Location: Villa Park, BirminghamStage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: LAMB OF GOD (USA)Time: Somewhere between the seventh circle of hell and peak leg-day trauma 💀 ⚔️ “WALK WITH ME IN HELL!” – LAMB OF GOD BRING PURE DESTRUCTION TO BRUM 🩸 If there was a Richter scale under Villa...

Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025Stage: Back To The Beginning Main StageBand: HALESTORM (USA)Mood: Fire. Grit. Glitter. Total carnage. 💄🔥 🎸 “I GET OFF ON YOU!” – LZZY HALE ROARS INTO BIRMINGHAM LIKE A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HURRICANE 🌩️ If you were anywhere near the main stage at Villa Park on Saturday, you may still...

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 you left in a neck...

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 in the crowd before Mastodon...