Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
In a recent interview with Tyler Ramsey of the “Painful Lessons: Punk Rock Sober” podcast, Jack Osbourne reaffirmed that Black Sabbath‘s farewell concert generated slightly less than $10 million in revenue, as per Blabbermouth. This figure significantly contrasts with the inflated estimates propagated by mainstream media shortly after the event.
Following the July 5, 2025, performance, titled “Back To The Beginning,” the event’s musical director, Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, posted on Instagram that approximately $190 million (140 million British pounds) would be donated to charity.
Subsequently, Billboard magazine reported that the concert had raised $190 million, and The Guardian noted that the pay-per-view livestream attracted nearly six million viewers, resulting in an estimated revenue of $150 million.
It was anticipated that the proceeds would be evenly allocated among Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorn Children’s Hospice, and Cure Parkinson’s, the latter being an organization dedicated to researching a cure for Parkinson’s disease, which Osbourne has been living with since 2019.
The number was complete bullshit. This is how you know the news is probably 90% bullshit, ’cause it was, like, CNN and New York Times was saying ‘Ozzy raised $150 million.’ And it wasn’t that. I think what it came down to was, like, when all was said and done, because it was a charity gig, you still have to pay for the actual gig. No bands got paid, and most of the crew donated their time. But I think when all said [was] and done, each charity got, like, one and a half or two million pounds [approximately $2.7 million] each. So, it was, I think, six or seven million pounds [approximately $9.4 million]. That’s what was donated to the three charities. I mean, we would’ve loved it if it was hundreds of millions. We would have been, like, ‘Fuck yeah.’
Sharon Osbourne, in November stated:
If one show could have raised… I mean, [the articles were saying] it was up to, like 190 million. It’s, like, any artist, just do one big show, film it and you can retire just on one show. No, it was nowhere near, and I wish that it was, but we are living in reality, in the real world.
