It’s no secret that Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello is huge fan of Ozzy Osbourne’s work. Last year Morello paid tribute to Black Sabbath with an instagram post hailing the band’s second album, Paranoid, as “a heavy metal masterpiece” and the guitarist loves Ozzy’s early solo material so much that he named his eldest son Rhoads, as a tip of the hat to the late, great Randy Rhoads.
Less well known is the story that Morello and his good friend Slash were almost blown up at any Ozzy gig in New Orleans.
For context, between 2012 and 2015, with Tony Iommi’s battle with lymphoma necessitating the cancellation of a number of Black Sabbath shows, Ozzy Osbourne took to the road under the Ozzy and Friends banner for 23 gigs across Europe, North and South America and Asia. At various dates, the singer would share the spotlight with guest musicians including old pals Geezer Butler, Zakk Wylde, and the aforementioned Morello and Slash. And when the tour rolled into New Orleans on October 31, 2015 for Voodoo Fest, Morello and Slash promised to show their support by making cameo appearances on-stage for Sabbath classics Iron Man and Paranoid. Little did they know that their decision would put their lives in jeopardy…
Speaking to Howard Stern on Sirius XM, Tom Morello takes up the story…
And here’s a fan-filmed clip of the fateful, and almost fatal, night, with Morello and Slash joining The Double O (and Geezer Butler) for a blast through Iron Man.
