The story of Black Sabbath is one of pushed boundaries, the heaviest of metal given life with microphones and guitar strings — and the band’s music had an undeniable impact on Australian audiences.
Black Sabbath, and their late, great frontman Ozzy Osbourne, left a mark on music from the pubs of Birmingham all the way to the dive bars of Sydney, in a 57-year career that would forever change rock and metal music.
Following the band’s final performance earlier this month as well as Ozzy’s passing, Tone Deaf looks back on how the band connected with fans Down Under.
Founded in Birmingham in 1968, Black Sabbath originally featured a lineup of Tony Iommi on guitar, Bill Ward on the drums, Geezer Butler on bass and the self-titled Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, leading vocals. The band went through name and sound changes, trying to make it big in heavy blues initially, before landing on the occult identity of Black Sabbath with their debut album of the same name in 1970.
The opening track, also named “Black Sabbath”, was named Rolling Stone’s top heavy metal song of all time, inspired by a nightmare guitarist Iommi had, where he awoke to a shadowy figure standing at the end of his bed. The album peaked at No. 8 on the Australian charts — but it wasn’t until 1971 that the band first performed in Australia.
Their debut Down Under was at Myponga Open Air Festival in South Australia in front of a crowd of 15,000. The band would return to hit multiple Aussie stages in 1973, playing shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide supported by Buffalo and Ticket.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.


In 1974, the band released Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, an album that hit No. 5 on the Australian charts and saw them play alongside AC/DC in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide to end their global tour.
In the 40 years that followed, Black Sabbath would undergo a series of lineup changes, and while the music continued to chart with metal fans in Australia, they would not grace an Australian stage again under the Black Sabbath name until 2013.
Following the release of 13, which charted at No. 4 in Australia, head-banging Aussie crowds rejoiced to see Ozzy, Iommi, and Butler onstage once again, supported by Tommy Clufetos on drums. You can watch the entirety of the Melbourne show on YouTube.
The shows were reviewed mostly positively by The Age, with Ozzy sometimes visibly losing time and pace as he was already battling health issues in his early 60s. The touring would come around again in 2016 for the band’s then-final performances as part of the ‘The End’ tour.
Reviewing the Melbourne show of the tour, The Sydney Morning Herald described a full house of pumped-up fans, jaw-dropping performances from Iommi, Butler, and Clufetos, and an enthusiastic, classically manic Ozzy to bring an end to the band’s on-stage presence in Australia.