All four Black Sabbath members visited the mural created in their honour in Birmingham over the weekend - and gifted the artist with tickets to their Back to the Beginning concert.
It’s not long to go now before the original Black Sabbath members will reunite on stage together for the first time in two decades, along with a stacked line-up of other rock and metal artists to give them a huge send off.
Over the weekend, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward stopped by the piece of street art on Birmingham’s Navigation Street, which has been newly-created in their honour by local artist Mr Murals.
The four members stopped by to sign the piece of brilliant street art, and thank Mr Murals for the artwork.
“Hasn’t Mr Murals been busy! Very flattered to be honoured in such a creative way, thank you Birmingham!” Iommi wrote on social media, alongside photos of the band and artist standing in front of the mural.
Mr Murals was clearly stoked to meet the metal legends, telling the BBC that Osbourne immediately recognised him and gifted him two tickets to the band’s final performance.
“Every single one of them took the time to speak to me and were so kind,” the artist said. “It’s mental, I’m still not over it.”
But the mural isn’t the only piece they’ve been honoured with in Birmingham over the weekend. The four were also presented with scrolls and medals by the Lord Mayor at a private ceremony on Saturday (July 28).
During the private ceremony, Butler called Birmingham "a great working-class city" and recalled how people used to make fun of their accents.
"We weren't given a chance when we started out, but Birmingham has always been behind us," he added.
Osbourne shared that his late father went into debt buying him a microphone and said that he thought his dad would be very proud of what he has achieved since that day.
"I first put an advert in a music store in town. If these guys hadn't come to my door, I wouldn't be sitting here now," he recalled. "It seems to have flown by so quickly. It's amazing... I'm a Brummie and I always will be a Brummie. Birmingham Forever."
Back to the Beginning is all go this Saturday 5th July - and don’t forget, we can be a part of it here in New Zealand via the pay-per-view live stream.
Tickets cost $50NZD and are available to buy on the official Back to the Beginning website, and will start for us at 2am Sunday 6th July. It’ll then be available to to watch multiple times until 48 hours later.
The Rock & © Cover Media
Thumbnail Credit: Tony Iommi Facebook | Ozzy Osbourne Instagram
