Black Sabbath fans disappointed to miss out on ‘once in a lifetime’ reunion gig

Black Sabbath fans have been left disappointed after missing out on the “once in a lifetime” chance to see the heavy metal pioneers perform for what has been billed as one final time.

The Back To The Beginning show will see the band’s original line-up of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward reunite for the first time in 20 years at Villa Park in Birmingham, the home of Aston Villa, the football club supported by the band’s lead singer, Osbourne.

The band played its last gig in 2017 in Birmingham with Osbourne, guitarist Iommi and bassist Butler, but without Ward on drums.

But many fans have said they were left “disappointed” in Friday’s general sale and previous pre-sales this week after claiming they faced long queues, glitches and dynamic pricing on the Ticketmaster website.

Sabbath fan Emily Pywell, from London, said: “It’s just disappointing for the actual fans that want to (go), that have tried to see them for years, and have lucked out to touts and potentially not as big fans, people that are just going for the experience.”

The 29-year-old was trying to get tickets for her and her boyfriend, Brandon Hall, who had tickets to see Osbourne’s last solo tour No More Tours II, which was cancelled in 2023 due to his ill health, and explained it was her boyfriend’s “last chance” to see the singer.

For the gig, Osbourne will also play a solo set, and Black Sabbath will be joined by some of the biggest names they have influenced in heavy metal including Metallica, Slayer and Pantera.

Speaking about her experience, Pywell added: “We had a bigger number in the queue than we’d had during the pre-sales and the rest of the week, (we) only just really got through just now, like two hours after.

“It’s who can refresh the fastest and click on it the fastest, it’s not really a fair system on Ticketmaster.”

She added: “I’ve had various problems all week.

“On Tuesday, the seating map wouldn’t load, so I contacted them on Twitter, and they said, ‘refresh the page’, so I refreshed it, and it kicked me out to the back of the queue.

“Yesterday, I was clicking on seats that are available, but it wasn’t selecting them, even though I was clicking on them, so I wasn’t able to do it then.

“And then today, it’s just doing the same, you’re just trying to click on them, and it won’t select them, or it’ll come up saying someone else has already bought them.”

Pywell now faces a battle to get hotel bookings refunded, after sorting them in advance.

Another fan of the Birmingham-founded rock and roll band, Olivia Bridge, said she thought the Ticketmaster site was “not fit for purpose” after saying she experienced similar issues, including the website’s seating map freezing.

She said: “I don’t know anyone who’s managed to get a ticket, certainly not without paying an arm and a leg for it, or selling the car, or donating a kidney, or something.

“It’s just not fair.”

The 30-year-old, who had been hoping to travel down from Manchester for the concert, said she had also become frustrated with Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system, which sees costs increase in real-time depending on how popular events are.

Bridge claimed she had seen some ticket categories priced at up to £2,000 when trying to obtain a ticket this morning, and said she could not see any available at face value.

She explained: “I just wonder if the bands have signed off on that, I wonder who’s behind that (dynamic pricing)?

“Because it just seems like it’s a generated number they’re just plucking out of thin air, just thinking, ‘oh, well, some poor fan will pay for it’.

“I can imagine people selling their cars this morning to get a ticket for £2,000, it’s just extortionate, they’re just rinsing people.”

John Garrett, a 36-year-old internet sales manager who lives in Ipswich, had also been trying to get tickets to the concert since Wednesday’s pre-sale, and claimed he faced issues that saw him kicked out of Ticketmaster’s waiting room.

He said: “Me and my friend were both trying to get tickets so we were both suffering the same thing happening.

“We’re massive fans and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity which has slipped through our fingers due to no fault of our own.”

All profits from the one-off July 5 show will go to charities including Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice, which is supported by Aston Villa.

The concert comes after Osbourne revealed in 2020 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and paused touring “for now” in 2023 after extensive spinal surgery.

He had a fall at home in 2019 which aggravated injuries from a near-fatal quad bike crash in 2003, stopping his farewell No More Tours II shows from going ahead in Europe and the UK.

The tour had previously been rescheduled several times because of illness, the Covid pandemic and logistical issues.

It comes after Oasis fans complained of tickets for their 2025 reunion doubling in price when they went on sale last year, amid a number of other issues with ticketing websites.

Ticketmaster has been contacted for comment.