Ozzy's Villa Park farewell comes to the screen in new documentary

Ozzy Osbourne's farewell concert at Villa Park, the triumphant homecoming that reunited Black Sabbath one last time, is being brought to the screen in a new documentary, as his widow Sharon describes the joy it gave him in the final weeks of his life.

The film, titled Back To The Beginning, features more than 25 of the songs played at the star-studded Birmingham concert, including Ozzy's solo set and Black Sabbath's entire performance. Speaking to BBC News as the family prepares to release it, Sharon said the show was the singer's final wish.

"I didn't get slagged by anybody"

Ozzy died at his home in Buckinghamshire at the age of 76, less than three weeks after the concert. Sharon remembers how happy the night had made him.

"He was online, going through the reviews and saying, 'There's something terribly wrong', and I'm like, 'Why?'" she said. "He goes, 'I didn't get slagged by anybody. Why are people being nice to me?'"

She said the concert went ahead against medical advice. Six months earlier Ozzy had fallen and fractured his vertebrae, then suffered pneumonia three times and sepsis after surgery. Two weeks before the show, doctors urged him to call it off.

"It's amazing what support and love and determination can do for you," Sharon said. "Some days just to even talk was an effort, let alone sing. And I don't know how he did it, but he did it. And you saw it in his eyes, in his face. It just made him feel like he was alive again."

"Flying high again"

In the film he performs seated on a throne, but his voice is powerful and his eyes are full of life. When he came off stage, Sharon said, he wanted to go on tour. "He was like, 'I can do this, and the fans don't mind if I'm sat down'."

"To quote one of his songs, he was flying high again," she said. "He was just floating for those last 17 days. It was great. It was joyous."

The documentary also includes backstage footage of the other stars who played that day. "If there was no Sabbath, there's no Metallica," says the band's frontman James Hetfield. "It's as simple as that." Yungblud, whose version of Changes was one of the emotional high points of the concert, says Ozzy changed his life as a child who did not fit in: "The fact he was celebrated for his madness and his individuality gave me hope."

Birmingham's farewell

Birmingham's love for its son was clear after his death too. Thousands of people lined the streets, laying flowers and singing Black Sabbath songs as his funeral procession passed through the city. Sharon said the family took real comfort from that.

"He'd have been like, 'What's the matter with you guys? Go home!'" she said. Every card and message was collected, sorted and photographed, and the flowers were composted for the family garden.

For fans in the city where Black Sabbath began, the film is a chance to relive a night that already belongs to Birmingham's musical history, and to see the band and their singer saying goodbye in style.