The Back To The Beginning event on July 5^th in England was a historic send-off for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. The show took place in Birmingham, Sabbath’s hometown. My write-up of the show can be found here.

While Birmingham is where Black Sabbath hail from, Sabbath aren’t the only heavy metal institution from the area. This city is also where Judas Priest were founded, giving Birmingham the “home of heavy metal” moniker.

It would have been a natural fit for Judas Priest to appear at Back To The Beginning, but scheduling conflicts sadly kept that from happening. Priest had already agreed to appear at another landmark show – the Scorpions held their 60^th anniversary concert in Hannover, Germany on the same evening as the Black Sabbath gig, and Priest were opening for the Scorpions. Former guitarist K.K. Downing was on hand for the Ozzy event, and Judas Priest sent in a video message honoring Ozzy and Sabbath.

As an additional gift of sorts, Priest also surprise released a cover of Black Sabbath’s seminal War Pigs on July 2^nd. War Pigs is one of Sabbath’s top songs, as evidenced by the song’s placement as the opener at the group’s final gig. It is also the song Judas Priest have used as stage “walk-on” music for several years now.

Not that there was any doubt, but Judas Priest execute War Pigs in massive fashion. This sounds spectacular – The band is tight and this has a huge and heavy feel to it. This sounds just as War Pigs should with no huge deviations or embellishments, but also has an extra kick in the ass from a Judas Priest group that has been insanely fresh and vital sounding in their later years.

It was a total bummer that Judas Priest were unable to make the gig honoring Ozzy and Sabbath. The bands have long had a close relationship, to the degree that Rob Halford is actually a former Black Sabbath singer. Rob filled in under emergency conditions twice for Sabbath – he did two shows in 1992 when then-Sabbath singer Ronnie James Dio refused to perform, and then in 2004 Halford filled in when Ozzy was ill.

While Black Sabbath’s legacy is now likely sealed for good, Judas Priest are still kicking with no discernible end in sight. It is nice to have this memento that commemorates Sabbath’s metal immortality from another of heavy metal’s greatest practitioners.