Metallica Rock Black Sabbath Farewell Show

Bruce Henne | 07-09-2025

(hennemusic) Metallica rocked the Black Sabbath farewell show in Birmingham on July 5 with a set that mixed the legendary band's classics with some of their own.

The band opened their performance with a cover of "Hole In The Sky" from Sabbath's 1975 release, "Sabotage", which was followed by "Creeping Death" and "For Whom The Bell Tolls", and then delivered "Johnny Blade" from 1978's "Never Say Die!", and then closed with the punishing pairing of "Battery" and "Master Of Puppets."

James Hetfield paid homage to the iconic UK group, telling the crowd: "Let's celebrate the band Black Sabbath, because without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica. Thank you boys for giving us a purpose in life. Thank you Black Sabbath."

Billed as "Back To The Beginning", the event saw the farewell performances by both Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, where they were joined by a number of guest artists paying tribute to the influential heavy metal band.

Stream video of Metallica's covers from the Birmingham concert event here