Keystone-SDA
Thousands of metal fans from around the world began to attend Birmingham on Saturday at the farewell concert of Black Sabbath. The event brings together an exceptional platform, from Metallica to Anthrax, for an epic and emotional final.
(Keystone-ATS) “It’s going to be the biggest metal concert of all time!” », Enthuses Jared Higginbotham, a 34 -year -old big bearded man, who still marvels artists who came to pay tribute to this pioneer group of Heavy Metal. So many legends of a sometimes hated but immensely popular style, which “drew their inspiration” from the Birmingham group, continues this manager of a food truck.
He came specially from Austin, Texas, with his partner, to attend this metal marathon of several hours, called “Back to the Beginning”.
They are lucky, they say, to have obtained tickets for the lawn of the Aston Villa stadium, which took for the occasion of pagan cathedral tunes.
In the crowd, almost each fan has put on their metal t-shirt-Black Sabbath largely taking it. Long hair, thick beards and wide tattoos dominate the debates.
Sick singer
Several big names began to take turns on stage in the early afternoon, including the French Gojira or the singer of Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, in an overheated and good-natured atmosphere.
Metallica, Slayer, Pantera or Alice in Chains must follow, before the final show, that of Black Sabbath in his original formation of 1968: Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass and Bill Ward on drums.
A first for 20 years for this legendary group, but also “a final point”, according to his wife, for Ozzy Osbourne, 76, affected for a few years by Parkinson’s disease. But also for his family reality TV show in the 2000s, “The Osbournes”, one of the greatest successes of MTV, which allowed him to reach a completely different audience.
Sold-out en 16 minutes
Coming from around Cambridge with a school boyfriend, Henry Broderick, a 22 -year -old red collector, sees him take place “on a throne”, too weakened by an excess life and his many health problems.
“He will not show much emotion, but I think he will be quite sad,” anticipates the one who was rocked at Metal by his father and spent 415 pounds for his place.
Black Sabbath sold more than 75 million albums worldwide, with the high point of tubes like “Paranoid”, “” War Pigs “or” Iron Man “. He is also considered to be the creator of Heavy Metal, a mixture of rock and blues with heavy sounds and dark words.
“It’s time for me to start from the start … to go back to the place where I was born,” said Ozzy Osbourne when the concert was announced in February.
Despite high prices -several hundred pounds -, the tickets were snatched in just 16 minutes.
