When Black Sabbath announced a final reunion back in February, many fans thought it was an April Fools joke. The line up looked absurd: Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Mastodon, and a host of singers, guitarists, drummers and bass players from Nu metal, hard rock, and members of Ozzy’s solo band. It’s real and it’s happening on July 5 (UK time) at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, where the band was founded.
Somehow it got even bigger when they added both Guns 'N Roses and Tool, and revealed Tom Morello will be leading the all star band portion of the show.
After the announcement Ozzy and his wife/manager Sharon did some press and it sounds like Ol Ozzy’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease is likely to affect his ability to do much on stage. We last saw Ozzy when he was inducted in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, where he sat on a throne and watched an all star band crank through his tunes. With that in mind, it’s pretty unclear how much Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne we will actually get on the big day. Guitarist Tony Iommi is featured on the new Robbie Williams single so should be good to go. It’s being promoted as a reunion though so we are least going to get the four of them, with Geezer Butler on bass as always. Drummer Bill Ward has been re-included in the lineup but having previously admitted to struggling with playing Sabbath, it’s anyone’s guess as to what capacity he’ll be involved in proceedings.
Recent posts on social media have suggested he’s been back behind the kit, which adds to the hope that we may just get a full Sabbath line up, even if it’s for one last song.
Various bands have revealed they’re likely to play a couple of covers among their own songs. So here’s our best guess at what to expect.
Black Sabbath
Honestly given their age and health, we might just get the original four smashing out ‘Paranoid’ one last time. Fair bet though that Iommi and Butler join some of the other bands to lay down those riffs. One track we want to see: an all star jam on ‘Black Sabbath’ with different vocalists sharing verses and all the guitarists on stage smashing the tri tone chords. ‘War Pigs’ would also go pretty hard with different vocalists helping Ozzy.
Ozzy Osbourne
In an interview with Loudwire, Sammy Hager revealed Ozzy wants to do a five song set, including ‘No More Tears’. If it’s just solo songs we’d love ‘Suicide Solution’, ‘Shot in the Dark’, ‘Mr Crowley’ and one of the ballads - most likely ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’ - with a backing band that includes Zakk Wylde, Mike Bordin and Rob Trujillo. If he does ‘Bark at the Moon’, he’s gotta bring in members of his older band (see below).
As a surprise, could the sense of occasion convince Kelly Osbourne to come out of retirement and join her father for ‘Changes’?
Metallica
Metal’s greatest cover band have performed ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Paranoid’ with Ozzy at a Hall of Fame showcase, and did ‘Hole in the Sky’ and ‘Iron Man’ at Sabbath’s Hall of Fame induction. They went left field by covering ‘Sabbra Cadabra’ on Garage Inc. and did an acoustic version of ‘Diary of a Madman’ at a benefit in 2014. Could they do a medley? Our guess is we get a medley including ‘Iron Man’/‘Sabbra Cadabra’/‘A National Acrobat’/‘Hole in the Sky’.
If you want an outlandish prediction, Metallica might bring out Iommi and Queen’s Brian May for a rendition of ‘Stone Cold Crazy’. IYKYK.
Guns n Roses
They did Bill Ward’s Sabbath song ‘It’s Alright’ (Axl solo) on Live Era 87-94 as an intro to ‘November Rain’. However they’re a versatile cover band so it’s hard to rule anything out. ‘Dirty Women’ would suit their swagger.
Slash has played with Ozzy a bunch of times, including RnR Hall of Fame last year, and had Ozzy sing on his first solo album (‘Crucify The Dead’) so maybe GnR will do that with Axl singing.
Tool
Hardest to pick? Maynard sang ‘Crazy Train’ at Ozzy’s HOF induction but how would that sound with Tool? We’d love them to do ‘Into the Void’ or ‘Tomorrow’s Dream’.
Slayer
They did ‘Hand of Doom’ for a Nativity in Black compilation. Kerry King told us last year that his favourite Sabbath album is Sabotage but we think others will nab ‘Hole in the Sky’ and ‘Symptom of the Universe’. They could do something wicked with ‘Megalomania’.
Pantera
‘Planet Caravan’ was a single off Far Beyond Driven. They’ve also released versions of ‘Electric Funeral’ and ‘Hole in the Sky’ so one or any of those seems obvious. Given they’ve got Zakk Wylde, maybe something else by Ozzy too? Our guess is ‘Planet Caravan’ and probably ‘Electric Funeral’.
Gojira
Like Tool, their cover versions are few and far between. Where could they go in the style of tech death metal? ‘Children of the Grave’ or ‘Symptom of the Universe’ would be an epic choice, with the latter having been given a death metal treatment by Sepultura that’s a decent guide to how Gojira might tackle it.
Alice in Chains
Jerry Cantrell played on Ozzy’s solo covers record and AiC covered ‘Sweet Leaf’ back in the 90s. So that’s our prediction but we’d bet on ‘Dreamer’ if they went in the Ozzy direction.
Halestorm
Setlist.fm has them playing Ozzy’s ‘Perry Mason’ in a club back in 2001. In an interview Lzzy Hale reveals she was asked to sing ‘Close My Eyes Forever’ with Ozzy but it sounds like that’s now unlikely. Lzzy has shown she can sing anything from Lady Gaga to Guns n Roses, but we’d like to hear the band crank out ‘Never Say Die’ or Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Babies’.
Lamb of God
Another super heavy band with a limited history of covers. 'Fairies Wear Boots’ has the kind of energy the Richmond, Virginia natives could make their own so we think they’ll do that or ‘Supernaut’.
Anthrax
‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ seems the bet, with the NY thrashers having covered the song as a B-side and Scott Ian posted a video of him playing the riff. Ian has also said he’s been asked to play with the supergroup line ups so expect to see him on stage a fair bit throughout the day.
Mastodon
Atlanta’s prog metal originals haven’t covered either Sabbath or Ozzy before. ‘Killing Yourself to Live’ or something like ‘Behind the Wall of Sleep’ would be right up their alley.
Rival Sons
They supported Black Sabbath on their The End tour and have the chops to crank out some classic Sabbath. They actually played a medley of ‘War Pigs’ / ‘Paranoid’ at a Grammy tribute to Sabbath in 2019. ‘Lord of this World’ is a clear inspiration and would open the event with huge energy.
The All Star Jams
The most obvious selections are Morello leading Ozzy’s former bandmates through songs from their respective eras: Jake E Lee gets to play ‘Bark at the Moon’, probably with Rudy Sarzo on bass and Mikey Bordin on drums. However, Lee told Guitar World the riff might be tricky for him. Maybe that’s where KK Downing comes in? Someone like Sammy Hager or Steve Tyler could front this line up too, with early Ozzy classics like ‘I Don’t Know’ or ‘Over the Mountain’ in the running. Hager told Loudwire he’ll be doing ‘Flying High Again’. Tyler loves the harmonica too, so I wouldn’t rule out Sabbath’s ‘The Wizard’.
Andrew Watt and Chad Smith played Ozzy’s R&RHOF Induction with Rob Trujillo, Slash and Zakk Wylde so they’ll likely be part of an Ozzy set as well. Watt actually wrote and produced Ozzy’s most recent solo records so might we get some new stuff too with others singing?
Billy Corgan was on Iommi’s first solo album (‘Black Oblivion’), which also included Phil Anselmo (‘Time is Mine’). Corgan told our metal bogan interviewer Duane that his favourite album is Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and he’d cut a striking figure singing ‘Spiral Architect’. Whitfield Crane did ‘NIB’ with Ugly Kid Joe thirty years ago and Vernon Reid has sung ‘Iron Man’ twice with Living Color. Both would do great justice to Sabbath songs, particularly if Iommi is playing guitar.
The best surprises could come from the Nu metal vocalists. David Draiman, Fred Durst and Jonathon Davis have all released covers with their respective bands, but there’s no Sabbath or Ozzy between them. Without their usual bands though, they will likely stick closer to the original versions with Morello helping with arrangements. Gut feel is Draiman might get tapped to duet on ‘Close My Eyes Forever’ with Lzzy Hale. Davis would do a mean version of ‘Mr Crowley’ but Durst remains an enigma. He and Morello might have different ideas for an Ozzy or Sabbath classic plus, if there is a super jam, expect Durst to be prominently featured on ‘War Pigs’.
With so much metal royalty on stage, Vessel (Sleep Token) and Papa V Perpetua (Ghost) will bring a different theatrical energy. While Ghost’s covers are well known, from Tina Turner to Iron Maiden, Vessel is a new entity whose unique style opens up all sorts of possibilities. Vessel would bring a new level of emotion to ‘Diary of a Madman’. Papa V Perpetua could lead the congregation in Ozzy’s Grammy winning ‘I Don’t Want to Change the World’ but would also weave some dark magic over ‘I Just Want You’.
The event sold out very quickly but it’s being live streamed! Head to https://backtothebeginning.com/ to purchase a virtual ticket. Note the live stream is on a two hour delay so you might want to avoid spoilers online before it starts. It starts at 11.00am July 5th in Birmingham, which is 8.00pm AEST (East Coast)
Words by KJ Draven @kjdraven
