On February 4, 2017, "Black Sabbath" made its very last show at the "Genting Arena" in Birmingham, England, thus closing a circle that began almost fifty years earlier, in 1968, in exactly the same place.
(Photo: The Rolling Stone Magazine)
This was the last performance in the last tour, which began on January 20, 2016, and was crowned with the obligatory name "The End".
During the tour, the band even released an EP also titled "The End".
Not for nothing did the band choose to end their last tour with two consecutive live shows in Birmingham. The band was formed almost 50 years earlier, at exactly the same place, when Ozzy Osbourne hung an ad in a record store that read, "Ozzy Zig Needs Gig — has own PA." This ad caught the attention of Tony Iommi and Bill Ward, whose band "Mythology" had just disbanded. Ozzy brought his friend "Rare Breed" - bassist Geezer Butler with him and so "Black Sabbath" was actually formed.
It was a perfect and dignified closer. The band played 16 carefully selected songs, mostly from the band's masterpiece albums from the seventies "Paranoid", "Black Sabbath", "Master Of Reality", "Vol. 4" and even "Technical Ecstasy".
The song that opened the show was the first song from the first album named after the band - "Black Sabbath", while the last song was its biggest "hit" "Paranoid".
The latest show was broadcast live through the band's Facebook channel. After the show, Tony Iommi announced that the band would no longer be touring, but noted that he was open to recording another album.
The setlist played on this historic evening:
‘Black Sabbath’
‘Fairies Wear Boots’
‘Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes’
‘After Forever’
‘Into the Void’
‘Snowblind’
‘War Pigs’
‘N.I.B.’
‘Hand of Doom’
‘Supernaut / Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Megalomania’ (medley)
‘Rat Salad’
‘Iron Man’
‘Dirty Women’
‘Children of the Grave’
‘Paranoid’