Wolfgang Van Halen has revealed what caused him to drop out of Ozzy Osbourne’s blockbuster retirement concert, Back To The Beginning.
Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the Mammoth singer/multi-instrumentalist, who was originally announced for the star-studded all-day show at Villa Park in Ozzy’s hometown of Birmingham, says that he had to pull out due to a change in the event’s rehearsal schedule.
“With Back To The Beginning, things kept changing,” Van Halen says. “We had the flights and the hotel booked and paid for – with our own money, actually. At one point I was supposed to play guitar on [Black Sabbath song] Sweet Leaf, then it was Changes.”
He continues: “What happened was, I had this Creed tour, and they moved the rehearsal schedule back for Back To The Beginning, and we couldn’t make it at that point. It was a bummer!”
Although Wolfgang dropped out, Back To The Beginning went ahead on July 5 with a who’s-who of hard rock and heavy metal performing, including Metallica, Tool, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer and Gojira. Ozzy performed short sets both as a solo artist and as a part of Black Sabbath, whose original lineup reunited onstage for the first time in 20 years.
The concert was one of Ozzy’s final public appearances, as the Prince Of Darkness died following a heart attack mere days afterwards on July 22.
Despite not making Back To The Beginning, Wolfgang was still able to pay tribute to Ozzy before his death. Last October, the musician was part of an all-star supergroup who performed a selection of Ozzy songs at his Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. The band was rounded out by Billy Idol, Tool singer Maynard James Keenan, Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and others.
Wolfgang met Osbourne backstage after the performance and was able to have a conversation with him. “I got to shoot the shit with him for about 10, 15 minutes,” he remembers. “He gave me a hug and I asked, ‘Was that alright?’ He said it was ‘bloody brilliant’.”
Wolfgang asked Ozzy “a couple questions” about the time Sabbath played with Van Halen, which featured his father Eddie and uncle Alex, on the Never Say Die! tour in 1978. The shows were Osbourne’s last with Sabbath until 1999, with the band’s members being notoriously heavy drug users at the time.
“I asked him a couple questions about stories my dad had told me from when they toured together,” he continues. “I can’t give specifics, but just to know that my dad wasn’t making stuff up was a fun thing!”
Wolfgang will release his third studio album with the Mammoth project, The End, via BMG on October 24. The album’s third single, I Really Wanna, came out on Thursday (September 11).
