The "Back to the Beginning" send-off in Birmingham, England, was a fitting finale for the heavy metal band that changed everything.

L ONDON (AP) — Hard-rock royalty and some 40,000 fans gathered for an ear-splitting tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at what the heavy metal icon says was his last-ever live performance. The original lineup of Osbourne’s band Black Sabbath performed at Villa Park soccer stadium in their home city of Birmingham, central England, on Saturday.

Boozers were decked with purple balloons and flags; murals were everywhere you looked; people donned Ozzy outfits, flooding the streets with battered T-shirts and denim jackets. It felt like a World Cup final for the metal fans who flooded in from every corner of the planet .