Black Sabbath fans have hit out at Ticketmaster after thousands failed to get tickets to the Back To The Beginning show, which sold out in minutes.
General tickets went on sale at 10am on Friday with fans scrambling for a chance to watch Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert with the heavy metal legends in Birmingham on July 5.
The gig will be the first time the original line-up - Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward - have played together in 20 years and tickets sold out in 16 minutes, according to The Mirror.
Fans called out the ticket prices - which ranged from £197.50 to £834 for VIP - with one user raging on X: “Didn’t realise you had to take out a f***ing mortgage to buy Black Sabbath tickets.”
Music lovers also blasted the “absolute joke” of a system at Ticketmaster, with several claiming they couldn’t get tickets despite several attempts during the pre-sales and general sales.
One raged: “Every morning for the past four days I’ve been in every queue waiting since 9am for Black Sabbath tickets and every single day I’ve been at least 60,000 in the queue what exactly is your ticket system? It is an absolute joke.”
Another added: “Attempts to get Black Sabbath tickets: 4 Tickets procured: 0.”
A third shared a screenshot showing that they were number 118,369th in the queue, writing: “It beggared belief that I’d get a Black Sabbath “Back to the Beginning” ticket anyways, but this is insane…
“Good luck if you’re earlier in the Ticketmaster Queue…”
“How can you buy tickets when the site won’t let you complete the purchase of tickets you’ve selected!? Absolute shambles,” one critic demanded to know.
Someone else complained: “Was among first 5500 in queue. Handful of tickets left when I got in, which literally became unavailable whenever I clicked on them.
“Considering how much Ticketmaster charged, imagine what the touts will be selling them for. As for the gold circle…”
Others called out the technical glitches on Ticketmaster, which showed up with error messages and seat map loading issues.
The issues were likely from heavy traffic on the site. By 10.16am, Ticketmaster announced tickets were “very limited”.
It was beggar’s belief that I’d get a Black Sabbath “Back to the Beginning” ticket anyways, but this is insane… 😅
— JayCaulls (@JayCaulls) February 14, 2025
Good luck if you’re earlier in the Ticketmaster Queue… pic.twitter.com/7KtKIoz8T4
“This is what happens now I finally got through to the Black Sabbath ticket page. I keep refreshing the page and seats occasionally come up and then immediately disappear,” one wrote alongside a video of the glitching seat map.
“I don't know why they're keeping the queue open if all the tickets are sold already. It's SO frustrating,” another critic posted.
The Standard has contacted Ticketmaster for comment.
Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning show at Villa Park in Birmingham, the city where the heavy rock pioneers formed in 1968, will also feature sets by a host of major metal bands including Metallica, Slayer and Alice In Chains.
The proceeds from the gig will be split equally across three charities -Birmingham Children's Hospital, Acorn Children's Hospice and Cure Parkinson's - a cause close to Osbourne’s heart as he has lived with Parkinson's since 2020.
