Can't believe it's already been a year since Back to the Beginning. I was going through my photos and videos from the day and found this previously unposted video, so I thought I'd share it for the anniversary.
July 5 marks one year since "Back to the Beginning" - which marked Ozzy Osbourne's final live performance with Black Sabbath and his solo band before his death just over two weeks later. While the show saw some of rock's biggest names perform at that show, many paid tribute to Ozzy in the days after his death - including System Of A Down during their show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, on Aug. 27, 2025. Daron Malakian spoke at great length about how impactful playing Ozzfest was for the band before they tore through their cover of "Snowblind" (marking the first time they played it in 23 years). As you can see in the clip, to say it was an emotional tribute is an understatement.
Stay tuned for more things to come from this space, including stories from concerts like this!
I'd have thought we'd have at least had a release date by now, so they could at least get pre order ticket money coming in.
After about 90 mins waiting to get in, I thought I'd snag a little memory of walking into the stadium for the first time. Hopefully it brings back some good memories for some of you!
To any/all who were lucky enough to have been able to attend the BTTB show last year: Please post your impressions/thoughts/feelings/etc. about the show along with a pic that you captured at the event.
My quick BTTB story: After unsuccessfully trying to secure tickets over two nights of pre-sales, we were lucky enough to get tickets on the day tickets were released to the general public (Friday) by accidentally stumbling onto the Aston Villa Football Club website where they had tickets available for sale to club members. Needless to say, we joined the club (Up the Villa!) and secured a pair of Gold hospitality tickets with reserved seating, access to a lounge and private bathrooms, as well as food throughout the day. My son and I made a 10-day father/son UK "trip of a lifetime" centered around the show. Ozzy was so frail during his sets and was loudly supported by the entire stadium singing along with him, which was crazy and brought tears to many peoples eyes. It was the most chill peaceful event that I have been to and we were able to meet metal-folk from around the world. It was truly the metal-event of a lifetime! RIP Ozzy!
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I'm a huge Black Sabbath fan. I listen to them every single day, I can play most of their songs on guitar and bass, and together with Hendrix and Zeppelin they've had a huge impact on me.
The problem is that I'm a bit younger, so I never really had the chance to see them. Back to the Beginning was my one and only opportunity. But my parents wouldn't let me fly there because they thought it was too expensive and too complicated. I watched the livestream instead and invited some friends over for a watch party. It was a great evening with my friends, but it still hurts knowing that I've seen so many great bands live, yet I never got to see the one that meant the most to me while all four original members were still alive.
It was a real, once-in-a-lifetime concert, and even a year later I still can't get over missing it. I keep asking myself why I didn't just go anyway. Screw the money, screw what my parents said - I wish I had just gotten on that plane.
Even now, a year later, I still don't know how to deal with the regret.
I'm sorry if I come across as a whiny child. I know I should be grateful for having a healthy life. So many people around the world are going through things that are far worse than what I'm dealing with, and my problems probably seem insignificant in comparison. But for some reason, I just can't get over this, and I simply needed to get it off my chest. I hope you can understand.
At least I met their first manager, Jim Simpson, a couple of months later in Birmingham, which was a really wonderful experience. I'm very grateful that I had the chance to meet him, and it's a memory I'll always treasure.
Since there's less of these, I combined the 3 into one post. There's a Quad Sabotage that I've never seen, as well as a minute difference to that RCA club one. Otherwise the only ones I don't have aren't listed in Discogs yet for these 3.
I don't even know what the original banner said, but I can't imagine it beat out this one. I'm sure it wasn't worth the trouble they got into.
This was borrowed and I thought it was pretty clever. If you created it, claim it.
Since it's release, I have assumed this track was absolute rubbish on account of the title. "Ridiculous self-referential premise/title." I probably skimmed through it one time and found it plodding and ponderous on the fly.
Well I gave it a good long chance today on account of people in this sub always mentioning it when talking about the merit of "Tyr" and I have to say, it's not a skip anymore.
Tony is singing his ass off, and it's good and heavy with many change ups and flourishes that give it body. The lyrics were not dumb, as I had assumed, though I could still do without the actual "The Sabbath Stones" concept and line.
Overall this went from a 0 to a 6.8 for me, and might gain even more traction over time now that I'm going to listen to it.
Thanks, Sub!
https://youtu.be/aYCEq2-Y6uA?si=ghTROLB-SmnvRQtp
Imagine what could've been had the video master hadn't been stolen.
Hey everyone, it’s time to go back to the beginning on the weekend of the anniversary. This thread will be open for six days so do you need to tag somebody have fun and let’s watch this thing together and discuss what’s next for the Black Sabbath
Here we go
