Black Sabbath: The End of The End (2017) Plot Summary Explained

Original drummer Bill Ward did not participate in Black Sabbath's farewell show at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. He was replaced on drums by longtime session player Tommy Clufetos, who had already been touring with the band since the 2012–14 reunion. The documentary frames the performance around the remaining founding members, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, without addressing Ward's absence in detail.

Foreshadowing: Earlier tour footage on The End Tour had already shown Clufetos filling the drum stool, signaling the final show would follow the same lineup.

• bill ward
• black sabbath final concert
• tommy clufetos
• drummer replacement
• end tour

Black Sabbath opened the February 4, 2017 show with the self-titled track "Black Sabbath" and ran through a career-spanning set including "Fairies Wear Boots," "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes," "Into the Void," "Snowblind," "War Pigs," "Hand of Doom," "Iron Man," and "Children of the Grave." The encore was "Paranoid," the band's signature song, which closed out the performance.

• setlist
• black sabbath final show
• paranoid
• war pigs
• iron man
• children of the grave

The Genting Arena in Birmingham is the hometown of founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, and the city where the band originally formed in the late 1960s. Choosing Birmingham as the farewell stop turned the final concert into a homecoming, giving the closing night a deeper emotional and symbolic weight than any other venue on the tour.

• birmingham
• genting arena
• hometown
• black sabbath farewell
• final concert

The Angelic Sessions are Black Sabbath's final studio recordings, captured in the days immediately following the Birmingham farewell show. Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler returned to the studio and recorded stripped-down versions of "The Wizard," "Wicked World," and "Changes." The film includes behind-the-scenes footage of these sessions, using them as an intimate, quieter coda to the explosive live concert.

• angelic sessions
• black sabbath final recordings
• the wizard
• changes
• wicked world
• studio sessions

Tommy Clufetos is a session drummer who had been filling the drum role for Black Sabbath since the 2012–14 reunion tour. With Bill Ward absent from that reunion and continuing through The End Tour, Clufetos became the band's touring drummer. His presence at the Birmingham show kept the rhythm section stable while preserving the core trio of Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler as the on-stage legacy of the band.

Foreshadowing: Footage from the earlier reunion tour already showed Clufetos playing alongside the founding trio, foreshadowing the same arrangement at the farewell gig.

• tommy clufetos
• bill ward absence
• session drummer
• black sabbath drummer
• reunion tour

Guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, right as the band was reuniting. Despite the illness, Iommi continued performing and recording while undergoing treatment, allowing the 2012–14 reunion tour and the 2013 album '13' to move forward. The documentary returns to this frightening chapter through on-camera interviews, where Iommi speaks openly about the toll it took on both his health and the band's momentum.

Foreshadowing: The interview segments foreshadow the emotional weight of the farewell, tying the resilience shown during treatment to the gratitude of the final performance.

• tony iommi
• lymphoma
• cancer diagnosis
• reunion tour
• 13 album
• black sabbath health

Opening the final show with the self-titled track "Black Sabbath" was a deliberate symbolic choice, returning the band to the very song that defined their identity nearly fifty years earlier. Starting the last concert with their namesake track in their hometown of Birmingham gave the performance a circular, full-circle quality, marking the end by revisiting the beginning.

• black sabbath opening song
• self-titled track
• setlist opener
• farewell symbolism

Choosing "Paranoid" as the encore allowed Black Sabbath to sign off with their most recognizable and commercially successful song. Closing the main set with the heavier "Children of the Grave" and then sending the hometown crowd home with the anthem "Paranoid" gave the farewell a celebratory, triumphant finality rather than a somber one, capping nearly fifty years of live performance on a high note.

• paranoid encore
• final song
• last concert
• black sabbath closer

Interspersed between songs, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler sit for candid conversations about their decades of drug abuse and how it shaped, and nearly derailed, their careers. These reflections provide a deeply personal counterweight to the spectacle of the live show, contrasting the disciplined, emotional performance on stage with the chaotic struggles of their past.

• drug addiction
• osbourne iommi butler interviews
• black sabbath struggles
• personal history

After nearly fifty years as a band, Black Sabbath launched The End Tour in 2016 as a deliberate worldwide goodbye to their fans, capping it with one final hometown show in Birmingham. The documentary frames the decision as a way to end on their own terms rather than fading away, giving the founding members a chance to celebrate their legacy together one last time before stepping off the road for good.

• the end tour
• farewell tour
• retirement
• black sabbath ending
• final tour

Adam Wakeman joined Black Sabbath on keyboards and additional guitar duties for The End Tour, supporting the core trio on stage at the Birmingham farewell. His presence allowed the band to faithfully reproduce the layered textures of their classic songs live while keeping the focus on Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler as the remaining founding members giving the final performance.

• adam wakeman
• keyboards
• touring lineup
• black sabbath support musician