Black Sabbath bring Download 2012 to a close

Black Sabbath brought Download 2012 to a close tonight (June 10) with a career-spanning set.

The metal pioneers played to a full crowd on the last night of the 10th annual weekender at Donington Park.

Coming onstage to a montage of vintage photos, they opened with their eponymous track from their eponymous debut album. Tony Iommi was in full force on a crucifix-adorned fretboard while frontman Ozzy Osbourne played harmonica. During the third track, ‘Behind The Wall Of Sleep’, Ozzy Osbourne introduced “Mr Geezer Butler” for a bass solo.

Ozzy kept the banter to a minimum but stopped for a tribute at one point, declaring: “The guy on the stage I’ve known for most of my life, and he’s one of the strongest guys I know. Let’s hear it for Mr Tony Iommi.”

They continued with ‘War Pigs’ which elicited a singalong to the final riff. Later, a drum solo preceded ‘Iron Man’ before Ozzy introduced ‘Fairies Wear Boots’. “When we first formed 40 odd years ago, I had no idea we’d be here doing this,” Ozzy declared before ‘Dirty Women’.

“You have do something for me on this last song, go fucking nuts,” Osbourne insisted before ‘Children Of The Grave’. The band then went off stage before returning for ‘Paranoid’ and a short firework show.

Earlier in the day, numerous bands played across Download’s three stages as the festival drew to a close. Soundgarden brought their vintage grunge to the Jim Marshall stage preceded by Megadeth while Ghost, Refused and Lamb Of God also played.

Black Sabbath played:

‘Black Sabbath’

‘Paranoid’