**A FINAL BOW FOR A FOUNDING LEGEND: Bill Ward to Rejoin Black Sabbath for One Last Historic Performance**
In a long-awaited and emotional turn of events, **Bill Ward**, the original drummer and co-founder of **Black Sabbath**, is set to take the stage one final time with his legendary bandmates. After more than a decade away from Sabbath’s touring and recording activities due to health and contractual disputes, Ward will officially return behind the kit at the band’s farewell concert, **“Back to the Beginning,”** this Saturday, **July 5, 2025**, at **Villa Park in Birmingham, England**.
This marks the first time since **Ozzfest 2005** that the original lineup — **Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward** — will perform a full concert together. For fans, it’s not only the end of an era but the long-overdue moment of recognition for the drummer whose thunderous, jazz-inflected style helped lay the foundation for heavy metal as we know it.
Ward, now 77, spoke candidly in a recent interview: “It’s been a long road, and I never thought I’d get this chance again. But being with my brothers on stage, one last time, in the city where it all started — that’s something I couldn’t walk away from.”
The performance is expected to include classic Sabbath staples such as “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” and “War Pigs,” songs that still carry Ward’s unmistakable rhythmic DNA.
Ozzy Osbourne praised Ward’s return, calling it “the only way this story could end — with all of us, together.”
As the lights dim and the band strikes that first chord, fans across generations will witness not just the end of Black Sabbath, but a long-overdue salute to one of rock’s most underrated and essential drummers.
**This is more than a concert — it’s closure. It’s legacy. It’s Bill Ward, f
inally home.**
