Ozzy Osbourne's Villa Park news made me weep - it's so much bigger than a Black Sabbath reunion

Ozzy Osbourne performs at The Crown
-Credit:Jim Simpson


I have always known how fortunate I am, as a fan of heavy metal, to live in Birmingham. I get chills every time a touring musician acknowledges the importance of being lucky enough to to play here, in the internationally-renowned Home of Metal, and that acknowledgement comes time and time again from those who have loved the genre so deeply, they made a life for themselves by harnessing the power of it.

It's an acknowledgement for all who love this often misunderstood, complex and beautiful music. But it's one that our city, on a much wider scale, has taken for granted.

It was only last week, standing at the edge of a circle pit at a Trivium gig at the Utilita Arena that my colleague Harry and I lamented this for what might be the 666th time I've done so this year. "How can it be that we're the home of heavy metal," Harry asked me, "And yet we don't honour it?"

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Read more: Black Sabbath reunite for Villa Park gig as Ozzy Osbourne announces 'greatest heavy metal show ever'

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I knew what he was thinking about. The Crown pub, the Ground Zero for heavy metal in this city, where Sabbath began to develop the sound that would power through decades, still sits empty opposite New Street station, held by a Japanese firm that simply will not let it go unless the buyer takes all the very expensive land and buildings around it too.

The Crown sits and it rots while the sold-out Trivium crowd at our second largest gig venue proved, undoubtedly, that the appetite to celebrate heavy metal was – at least for those who get it – insatiable in this town. Those who get it, get it. Those who don't need to be shown.

It's a travesty, and it's not just because of the empty pub. It hurts, because that boozer is totemic, existing now for me as the faded embodiment of the total lack of respect that is given to Birmingham and it's cultural role as the very birthplace of something which brings so much joy to people, all the time, all around the world.

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The fans get it. I went to my first heavy metal show in Birmingham 20 years ago and have always felt deeply appreciative of the gig venues that have kept the flame burning. From the underground spots like the sweaty little room downstairs at the Flapper and beneath Dale End at Scruffy Murphys to the outrageously underrated gig room at the Castle and Falcon, we've earned a two-day neck-ache in all of them.

But on a larger scale, aside from the occasional show at the big arenas I will forever call 'the NEC' and 'the NIA' heavy metal isn't revered in the way it deserves to be in this city.

So when Ozzy Osbourne announced, this week, he would be returning to Birmingham for one final show before he bows out for good, I cried. Not because of a Black Sabbath goodbye, we've seen one of those before, but instead because of the nature by which Ozzy is choosing to go.

The star must have been busy putting in calls to almost everyone in the industry that holds it up (with the exception of Mustaine, but that's another story for another column) because they're coming to Birmingham in their droves. Slayer – the first heavy metal band I ever saw in Brum – are coming, so too are Metallica, arguably the best and biggest band carrying forth the metal torch on this planet. I never thought I'd ever in my life see them play Birmingham. Metallica! In Birmingham. I can't believe it.

We're getting Anthrax, my favourite of The Big Four, and Grammy Award-winning Gojira. We're getting Pantera for the first (well, second when July rolls around) time in decades, and we're getting Alice In Chains, Lamb of God and Halestorm. All on the same day. I could burst.

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The joy I feel isn't just because there's a chance that I'm going to see the greatest heavy metal bands of all time, on the same day (though that does makes me happier than I can express). The real exultation comes because of all of the places Ozzy could host this gig, in Los Angeles, where so many of these musicians, including him, live, or at the much bigger capacity Wembley bleeding Arena, Ozzy is acknowledging that there's no better way to end something so significant than the place it all began.

Birmingham deserves this. The fans deserve this. The charities the gig is supporting, including Birmingham Children's Hospital, deserve this. The eyes of the world belong on this place for what Tom Morello – who is music director for this whole thing – says will be the 'greatest heavy metal show ever'.

Now, if we can just get The Crown back...