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

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 .

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.