Some new details have come to light for the upcoming live farewell extravaganza being staged for Black Sabbath‘s original lineup and their frontman Ozzy Osbourne next month. That all-star event, ‘Back To The Beginning‘, will be held July 05th at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK.
In addition to serving as the final planned live shows for the aforementioned heavy metal icons, a who’s who of heavy metal stars will be taking to the stage to pay homage, with many set to perform covers from the Sabbath and Osbourne catalog.
In a new interview with Planet Rock, promoter Andy Copping (also of ‘Download Festival‘ fame) confirmed that some as-yet unannounced special guests will be performing, while the event will also feature a revolving stage. Copping told the aforementioned publication:
“There’s a couple of acts that have confirmed but not been announced yet so they’re going to be part of the proceedings. There’s still one or two that have kind of popped their head up literally in the last week saying they would like to be part of the event. So we’re talking about how we can fit those into the schedule.
That’s another thing we’ve got. We are completely full, we’ve only got a set amount of time, but we also don’t want to miss out on opportunities of people we think will also give us a second enhancement of how great the bill is. So, yeah, there’s gonna be two or three surprises.”
Copping also elaborated on how the festival plan to accommodate the abundance of talent set to perform that day, offering:
“The event itself is going to be very fluid. We’ve got a revolving stage so when somebody is playing, we’re gonna be building up the back line and everything for the act after that. It is going to make things run really, really smoothly. We’re hoping for a 10 to 12 minute gap in-between each act, which I think is fair.
Normally you go to a festival and it could be anything from half-an-hour to 45 minutes or more between acts. At this one, it’s going be very fluid. It’s going to be act after act after act. It’s almost like blink and you’ll miss it. You’re not gonna have a lot of time and to go off and do anything other than watch this amazing music!”
While Osbourne himself is expected to perform in a limited capacity due to his his well-documented health complications, there’s no shortage of renowned musicians set to assist him and Sabbath. The roster for this year’s event includes:
Metallica
Guns N’ Roses
Slayer
Tool
Pantera
Gojira
Halestorm
Alice In Chains
Lamb Of God
Anthrax
Mastodon
Rival Sons
On top of that, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello is also directing a collective that will be tackling Sabbath and Ozzy covers with an equally stacked roster that includes:
Andrew Watt
Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)
Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Danny Carey (Tool)
David Draiman (Disturbed)
David Ellefson (ex-Megadeth)
Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses)
Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit)
Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
Jake E. Lee (Red Dragon Cartel, ex-Ozzy Osbourne)
Jonathan Davis (Korn)
KK Downing (KK’s Priest, ex-Judas Priest)
Mike Bordin (Faith No More/Ozzy Osbourne)
Papa V Perpetua (Ghost)
Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, etc.)
Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen)
Slash (Guns N’ Roses)
Soundgarden
Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
II (Sleep Token)
Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)
Vernon Reid (Living Colour)
Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe)
Wolfgang Van Halen (Mammoth WVH, ex-Van Halen)
Actor Jason Momoa (‘Aquaman‘, ‘Game Of Thrones‘) will serve as the host throughout the day. The sold-out concert will also be livestreamed via backtothebeginning.com. A portion of the proceeds have been earmarked for Cure Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice.
Furthering that charitable imitative is the new launch of an official charity auction centered around the concert. Available via ozzyauction.co.uk, various rare and unique items are up for grabs, including gold plaques from Metallica, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses and many more.
