Ozzy Osbourne has taken to the stage in a wheelchair as he and Black Sabbath thrilled tens of thousands of fans in an emotional farewell gig.

Nearly six decades after the British band helped pioneer heavy metal with an eponymous song that enthralled and frightened audiences, Black Sabbath returned to Aston in Birmingham for Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park stadium.

The one-off gig, with profits going to charity, was billed as Osbourne’s last performance, five years after the 76-year-old “prince of darkness” revealed he had Parkinson’s disease, which has made him unable to walk.

One of music’s wildest frontmen, who once chewed off the head of a bat on stage, Osbourne performed sitting on a black throne. At times, he appeared to tear up before an adoring crowd, which lapped up hits including Crazy Train.

“You’ve got no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Osbourne said.

Earlier, over a dozen acts including Metallica, Slayer, Tool and Guns N’ Roses paid tribute to Black Sabbath. They performed to a sea of fans in black band T-shirts who headbanged, moshed and crowd-surfed through a long day of rock and metal music.

“Without Sabbath there would be no Metallica. Thank you, boys, for giving us a purpose in life,” Metallica frontman James Hetfield said.

Some of rock music’s biggest names appeared on stage, including The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Megadeth’s David Ellefson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, who was also the event’s musical director.

Morello told Metal Hammer magazine earlier that his goal had been to create “the greatest day in the history of heavy metal as a salute to the band that started it all”.

The gig united Sabbath’s original lineup of Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward for the first time in 20 years.

Some fans cried and many said they felt emotional.

One of them was Runo Gokdemir, a teacher from London, who said he had sold a car to pay for a ticket.

“I love Ozzy that much,” he told Reuters.

“When I had a tough time in my teenage years, I listened to Black Sabbath, and Ozzy has got me through a lot.”

Lisa Meyer, who organised a Black Sabbath exhibition in Birmingham in 2019, said the band had built an enduring legacy by offering a heavier alternative to the Beatlemania and hippy music of the 1960s.

“That’s what really resonated with fans, giving a voice to that rage, anger and frustration, but doing it in a really cathartic way,” Meyer, co-founder of the Home of Metal project, told Reuters.

Osbourne finished his solo set and returned with Black Sabbath, including a shirtless Ward, to perform four of their biggest hits including War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man.

There was also a surprise moment backstage when Osbourne’s daughter said yes to a marriage proposal from her long-term partner Slipknot member Sid Wilson.

“Kelly, you know I love you more than anything in the world,” 48-year-old Wilson said as he went down on one knee – prompting Osbourne to shout: “F–k off, you’re not marrying my daughter!”

Wilson continued, undeterred: “Nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you. So in front of your family and all of our friends, Kelly, will you marry me?”

A surprised Kelly, 40, put her hands over her mouth and nodded, to cheers and claps from those around, including Osbourne and her mother Sharon, 72.

Kelly Osbourne and Wilson have been a couple since 2022 and have a two-year-old son, Sidney.

-with AAP