In accordance with a brand new report from BBC Information, Black Sabbath‘s farewell live performance, Again To The Starting, generated a complete of £33.8 million (roughly $45.5 million). The figures, compiled by researchers on the College of Birmingham, present that £27.6 million (about $37 million) of that complete was retained inside the West Midlands area, instantly benefiting Birmingham and its surrounding boroughs.
Dr. Matt Lyons, who carried out the evaluation, defined the motivation behind the research: “As regional economists from the College of Birmingham, we thought we might do our bit to honor Ozzy‘s legacy by estimating the financial impression of his final gig. The impression of the Prince Of Darkness clearly goes far past the monetary impression his gigs and TV reveals have netted. Ozzy is a worldwide legend, and his reward of unimaginable music, and now his closing financial impression, will go on to profit his house metropolis far into the long run.”
Held at Villa Park in Birmingham, the July live performance drew 42,000 ticket patrons, with roughly 20 % touring from outdoors the UK. Ticket costs ranged from £197.50 to £834, reflecting the magnitude of the once-in-a-lifetime occasion. The farewell was not only a celebration of the legacy of Black Sabbath but additionally a gathering of the broader heavy music neighborhood, with performances from Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Weapons N’ Roses, and Instrument, alongside a solo look from Ozzy himself.
Regardless of the College’s figures, confusion has surrounded the true monetary scope of the occasion. Preliminary stories steered staggering sums, with Billboard and The Guardian estimating almost $190 million raised and a pay-per-view viewers of almost six million, producing roughly $150 million in streaming income. Rumors even circulated that this quantity can be donated to charities together with Birmingham Kids’s Hospital, Acorn Kids’s Hospice, and Remedy Parkinson’s.
Nonetheless, Sharon Osbourne moved shortly to mood these claims. In a July 17 interview with Pollstar, simply 5 days earlier than Ozzy‘s demise, she dismissed such figures as “ridiculous.” “One of many issues that is horrifying me is all this false press about [how], we have made $140 million and all of this, and I am like, God, I want we might have, for one gig,” she mentioned. “It is simply ridiculous, the completely different tales. I went on the web the subsequent morning and it was like, $140 million, $160 million. And I am like, the place does these things come from?”
Sharon clarified that it will take weeks to find out the precise charitable totals, given bills for performers and manufacturing. She added, “It is the Kids’s Hospital, a kids’s hospice, and Parkinson’s analysis. All people thinks that they will treatment all the things with this a lot cash, however it’s not the actual world.”
Whatever the numbers, Sharon described the evening as a landmark second: “It was an exceptional occasion. It was the primary time, I believe, that anyone’s gone into retirement and performed it, the place the present is streamed and it goes to charity. So it is the primary time anyone has mentioned goodnight like that. It is the right approach, once you’ve had such an extended profession, to finish it. I by no means needed Ozzy to only disappear with out some large occasion.”
Billboard later reported that past the headline figures, the farewell additionally impressed further charity initiatives. Every of the designated organizations raised tens of hundreds of kilos via raffles, auctions of art work and images donated by Sabbath, and direct fan contributions through the livestream.
Whereas the monetary legacy of Again To The Starting continues to be clarified, what stays sure is its cultural weight. The present represented not solely a closing bow for one in every of heavy steel’s defining figures but additionally a historic second for Birmingham – a metropolis endlessly tied to the music that Ozzy and Black Sabbath gave to the world.
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