Sharon Osbourne Weighs In On 'Ridiculous' Figures Reported For Black Sabbath's Final Show

Sharon Osbourne has spoken out about the “overstatements” surrounding Black Sabbath’s final concert, Back To The Beginning, including how much money the charity event raised and how many people tuned in to the global livestream.

In a new interview with Pollstar—which was conducted just five days before Ozzy Osbourne passed away, on 17 July—published this week, Sharon Osbourne described the reported $190 million raised for the Back To The Beginning concert as “ridiculous.”

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The figure was originally shared by the event’s musical conductor, Tom Morello, in a since-edited Instagram post. The Music previously reported on a stated $140 million said to be raised at the concert, which didn’t just farewell Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, but also starred heavy metal royalty, securing performances with Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Gojira, Tool, Halestorm, and many others.

With 40,000 punters in attendance at the concert, held at Villa Park, Birmingham—the home of Ozzy Osbourne’s favourite soccer team, Aston Villa—and previously reported more than five million people tuning in to the pay-for-view livestream, it was perfectly reasonable to believe millions had been raised.

The concert’s proceeds are going to three selected organisations: Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice. However, Sharon Osbourne says the figures were grossly overstated, and the three organisations won’t be receiving as much money as they thought they would.

“I’m really happy that we are talking, because one of the things that’s frightening me is all this false press about [how] we’ve made $140 million and all of this, and I’m like, ‘God, I wish we could have, for one gig,’” Sharon explained.

“It’s just ridiculous, the different stories. I went on the internet the next morning, and it was like, $140 million, $160 million. And I’m like, ‘Where does this stuff come from?’ And people like Billboard have printed it.”

When the interviewer noted that the number reported had increased to $190 million, Sharon answered: “Oh, $190 million? Thank you, Billboard, for getting it wrong. Just ridiculous.”

Sharon Osbourne added that the 5.8 streaming number was also inflated. “I mean, the streaming was 275,000 bought it,” she said. “But Mercury [Studios], which produced and was saying that a lot of rock clubs all over the world bought it and played it in-house. So, there were 200, 300 people watching it in one facility.”

Noting that figuring out the proceeds “takes a really long time” since the concert had to cover all of the bands’ expenses and merch sales were still coming in, Sharon Osbourne said it would take approximately six weeks to see the actual figure raised.

“We’re selling merch for another two weeks from the gig,” she continued. “So, we’ve got another two weeks of sales yet to add to it. It’ll be another four weeks, and it’ll be done.”

Commenting on how the overstatement affected their chosen organisations, she concluded, “Oh my God! It’s the Children’s Hospital, a children’s hospice, and Parkinson’s research. Everybody thinks that they’re going to cure everything with this much money, but it’s not the real world.”

Ozzy Osbourne passed away on 22 July – just seventeen days after taking to the stage for the final time at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning farewell concert.