Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has looked back on Black Sabbath’s retirement show Back To The Beginning, admitting he was unsure how well the pioneering heavy metal band would perform at their final gig together.
Talking to Howard Stern on SiriusXM on Wednesday (August 6), the drummer, whose band were part of a star-studded rock and metal lineup at the all-day event in Birmingham last month, says that, ahead of Sabbath’s set, “We were hoping for the best, we wanted it to be the best, we wanted it to be a grand slam, but we didn’t know, because ultimately none of us knew what kind of shape they were in.”
However, Sabbath’s five-song set – which marked the first time singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward played together for the first time in almost 20 years – quickly blew the drummer away.
He continues (via Blabbermouth): “And then they started playing [opening song] War Pigs, and I think instantly for all of us who were watching, it was just like, ‘OK, it’s gonna be fine. They sound great, if not better than ever.’ And then Ozzy came in singing. Everybody was just like, ‘They’re gonna fucking kill it.’
Ulrich adds that the strength of the performance only intensified the shock that he and his bandmates felt when Osbourne died on July 22, just 17 days after the show, at the age of 76.
“Nobody walked away going, ‘That’s the last time we’ll see Ozzy.’ [We thought,] ‘We’ll see him at some event, or we’ll be there to present another award for him.’ So when he passed two weeks later, we were all just so stunned. That was the word that was being texted around to everybody on the text chains that I was on: ‘This is just so fucking stunning.’”
Back To The Beginning was promoted as Osbourne’s last concert, and took place on July 5 at Villa Park: a football stadium close to where the vocalist grew up in Aston, Birmingham. As well as Sabbath, the show featured a four-song solo set from Osbourne, plus support acts including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Gojira and Mastodon.
The event was held to raise money for local Birmingham causes and is currently estimated to be the highest-grossing charity gig of all time. More than $190 million has gone to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Cure Parkinson’s and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Osbourne died at his home in Buckinghamshire, with his cause of death being revealed this week as cardiac arrest. His passing inspired tributes from around the world, including one from Metallica. The band wrote on social media on the day the singer died: “It’s impossible to put into words what Ozzy Osbourne has meant to Metallica. Hero, icon, pioneer, inspiration, mentor, and most of all, friend are a few that come to mind.”
Talking to Stern, Ulrich says that Osbourne “introduced Metallica to a mainstream audience” by letting them open for him on his Ultimate Sin North American tour in 1986.
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