Guns N’ Roses were seen rehearsing a Black Sabbath cover at one of their recent sound checks, ahead of this weekend’s ‘Back To The Beginning’ show.
The ‘80s icons will be joining the Birmingham metal pioneers tomorrow (Saturday July 5) as the latter play their last live show in their hometown. It will be held at Villa Park in Aston, and see frontman Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward perform on stage together for the first time in two decades.
As well as GNR, Sabbath will be joined on the bill by other huge names in the genre including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice In Chains, Gojira, Anthrax, Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, KoRn, Tool, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and the surviving members of Soundgarden.
Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello will serve as musical director for the concert, which is being live-streamed around the globe, and actor Jason Momoa will host.
Details about the show have been kept under wraps for the most part, although it seems that each artist on the stacked line-up will be paying homage to the metal veterans by performing covers of their various tracks. It was also shared recently that Ozzy will be playing just four songs due to his health status.
It is not known which artists will be playing which songs; however, according to a new report from SFP Magazine, it seems that Guns N’ Roses may be taking on the classic track ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’.
The outlet claimed on Facebook that Axl Rose and co. ran through the song while at a soundcheck recently – just before taking to the stage for a headline show at the Dahls Arena in Trondheim, Norway.
At the time of writing, no audio or video of the rehearsal has been shared, but if SFP’s reports are accurate, it may indicate that this is the song the rock giants will be taking on for the mammoth Birmingham show.
In other news about the show, speaking to the BBC News recently, Tony Iommi shared that while things are going well in terms of preparations, the band are “all nervous”, particularly as over 40,000 people “are coming from all over the world” to see it.
“I wouldn’t say it’s been easy, it’s been tough, because none of us are getting younger and to stand there for a couple of hours is tiring,” he said of rehearsals, and added that working with other artists has been great as there are “no egos”.
News that Ozzy will be singing just four tracks comes as there has been speculation whether the singer’s health issues would interfere with his ability to perform on the night.
The Prince Of Darkness has not played a full gig since 2018, and has undergone multiple surgeries and has been dealing with Parkinson’s disease in recent years.
In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, Osbourne vowed to do “the best I can” at the gig, and suggested that he “may be sitting down” on stage. There have been rumours that he’ll be performing from a “throne that flies over the [crowd]” at the show, but this has not been confirmed.
When the massive live show was announced, Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne told NME that, although her husband now “can’t walk” as a result of Parkinson’s, his illness “doesn’t affect his voice”. “He wants to say thank you to everybody,” she explained to us at Villa Park. “He didn’t have that chance because of his illness, but now he does have the chance.”
For those who cannot attend the show tomorrow, a livestream is available to purchase.