‘Ozzy Forever’: First ever Ozzy Day in Birmingham was one massive celebration

Birmingham has just marked the first-ever Ozzy Day with thousands of fans turning out across the city to celebrate the life and legacy of hometown hero Ozzy Osbourne one year after his death.

Rather than making it a day of mourning, the city threw a full-blown tribute worthy of the Prince of Darkness. Black Sabbath shirts were everywhere, fans travelled from across the UK and as far as Mexico, and nearly every corner of Birmingham had something happening in Ozzy's honour.

New Street Station quickly became one of the busiest stops of the day. Bostin Brass kicked things off with a cracking rendition of Iron Man beneath the city's famous Ozzy the Bull, which had been fitted with Ozzy's trademark round sunglasses. 

Fans lined up for commemorative Polaroids while Birmingham Music Archive collected personal stories and memories to preserve the inaugural Ozzy Day for years to come.

The celebrations stretched across the city, from the Black Sabbath Bench and Bridge, where flowers, photos and handwritten tributes continued to grow, to the Bullring, where the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra transformed the shopping centre into an unlikely heavy metal concert hall with orchestral versions of Sabbath classics.

The Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero exhibition also remained a major draw, complete with the iconic throne from Black Sabbath's final Back to the Beginning show at Villa Park.

It wasn't just Birmingham paying its respects either. While fans filled the Black Sabbath Bench with flowers and handwritten notes, Ozzy's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles was also covered in purple floral tributes, candles and memorial cards. 

Sharon Osbourne encouraged fans to remember her husband by playing his music "really loud", while Tony Iommi reflected on missing his lifelong friend, writing: "There will never be another Ozzy."

Judging by Birmingham's first Ozzy Day, his hometown couldn't agree more.