They came by the thousands, dressed in black and bound by a shared devotion, not to a religion, but to a legend. On a historic Saturday in Birmingham, England, heavy metal fans from all walks of life united for Back to the Beginning, a 10-hour spectacle honoring none other than Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness himself.

With T-shirts emblazoned with crucifixes, dragons, and demons, the crowd packed Villa Park, the city’s iconic football stadium, to witness what was promised to be Black Sabbath’s final bow. Formed in Birmingham in 1968, the band — Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward — is widely credited as the godfathers of heavy metal, and Saturday felt like a pilgrimage back to their sacred ground.

Scene outside Villa Park in Birmingham

At 9pm, Ozzy rose from beneath the stage on a black throne adorned with skulls and an ornamental bat, and the crowd lost it. “Are you ready?” he bellowed, and the roar in response said it all. Performing hits like Crazy Train, Ozzy goaded fans with his signature antics: making faces, spraying the front rows with a water gun, and soaking in every ounce of love.

After a thunderous four-song Black Sabbath set, the band closed with Paranoid. Fireworks lit up the sky, the stage slowly rotated, and the crowd erupted into chants of “Oz-zy! Oz-zy! Oz-zy! Kids today will never understand the euphoria of witnessing Ozzy Osbourne live, rising from the stage on a throne and unleashing pure, glorious chaos. They’ll stream his legacy, for sure, but they’ll never feel the fire of the Prince of Darkness in the flesh. Bow down, legend!