Boozers were decked with purple balloons and flags; murals were everywhere you looked; people donned Ozzy outfits, flooding the streets with battered T-shirts and denim jackets. It felt like a World Cup final for the metal fans who flooded in from every corner of the planet .

As Ozzy Osbourne bounced in his seat, his body keen to follow a heart that was yearning to leap out and embrace his people beneath the lights in his home neighbourhood of Aston, one thing was obvious from where we were sitting: The Black Sabbath frontman is NOT defined by any disability.

Thousands of metal fans are due to descend on Birmingham on Saturday 5 July, as Black Sabbath hosts its Back To The Beginning concert. Held at Villa Park, the gig features dozens