Ozzy Osbourne has revealed his preparations for the star-studded Back To The Beginning show in July which will bring down the curtain on both his solo career and that of Black Sabbath.
The band, and Sharon Osbourne, have conducted an interview with The Guardian, which will run in the newspaper and online tomorrow, May 2, and in a teaser excerpt for the feature, Ozzy says that the July 5 spectacular at Birmingham's Villa Park was was conceived by his wife and manager as “something to give me a reason to get up in the morning”.
Osbourne has suffered from numerous health problems over the past decade, and he admits that these escalating medical issues have taken a toll.
"You wake up the next morning and find that something else has gone wrong," he states. "You begin to think this is never going to end.”
Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, one of the guest artists lined up to honour Ozzy and Sabbath, recently expressed his concerns for the singer's well-being, saying, I don’t know what kind of modern miracles we’ll come up with to get him on stage to do the songs, but this is gonna be a challenge for them."
"I’ll be there, and I’ll do the best I can," Ozzy insists. "So all I can do is turn up."
"It’s tough," he admits, "I’ve been laid up for such a long time. I’ve been lying on my back doing nothing and the first thing to go is your strength. It’s like starting all over again. I’ve got a vocal coach coming round four days a week to keep my voice going. I have problems walking. I also get blood pressure issues, from blood clots on my legs. I’m used to doing two hours on stage, jumping and running around. I don’t think I’ll be doing much jumping or running around this time. I may be sitting down"
Earlier this year, Ozzy admitted on his Ozzy Speaks radio show that he was planning on doing "little bits and pieces", rather than.a full set.
He tells The Guardian: “We’re only playing a couple of songs each. I don’t want people thinking ‘we’re getting ripped off’, because it’s just going to be … what’s the word? … a sample, you’re going to get a few songs each by Ozzy and Sabbath.”
The Back To The Beginning show, which will see the original Black Sabbath lineup – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – share a stage for the first time since 2005, was announced in February.
Though the exact format of the spectacular gig, which features a who's who of hard rock and heavy metal - Metallica, Pantera, Anthrax, Guns N' Roses, Tool, Gojira, Mastodon and more - paying tribute to both Sabbath and Ozzy, has yet to be revealed, it seems that every artist on the bill will cover a classic song by the Godfathers of Metal.
As well as the aforementioned artists, the show feature performances from a ‘supergroup’ composed of Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), Papa V Perpetua (Ghost) and many others. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) is acting as the event’s musical director.
"We have a very, very simple goal," Morello said earlier this year, "and that’s to make this the greatest day in the history of heavy metal. And to that end, you’ve probably seen the listed setlist. And let me tell you, there’s some huge superstars who are gonna be surprises on that day too. So, the idea is to really acknowledge the importance of that band in a way that the whole world will forever know."
