Black Sabbath: the End

Birmingham's legendary heavy metal ambassadors returned to their home town in early 2017 for what was billed as a final gig, bringing down the curtain on a career that began 49 years earlier. This lovingly filmed concert documentary captures the set, as well as band interviews and one significantly more subdued coda performance filmed on a rural farm a few days later. Sabbath classics are rolled out in style at the gig proper, with director Dick Carruthers making sure his cameras pay as much attention to the passionate, die-hard fans paying homage to the end of an era. In comparison, the after-the-event reminiscences of Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler seem awkwardly pedestrian, as Osbourne displays little of the wit and personality that made him a reality TV star back in 2002. Despite decades of ups-and-downs, estrangements and full-on animosity, there remains a strong bond between the players, although they're perhaps too polite when writing this closing chapter. In 2025, after an eight-year retirement during which Osbourne revealed a diagnosis of Parkinson's, the trio plus original drummer Bill Ward would perform one more show, again in Brum; the singer died 17 days later.