So it was surreal to stand on a football pitch with 45,000 strong to witness the end of this grand, institutional group who has touched me personally, professionally, and at times even intimately in stolen moments of work and camaraderie.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has described Black Sabbath's final concert as "beautiful and bittersweet," sharing an emotional tribute to the heavy metal legends following their last-ever performance in Birmingham.

The metal luminary, 76, took the stage with his original bandmates at a farewell festival in his Birmingham, England, hometown on Saturday night.