BLACK SABBATH & OZZY: All-Star Finale
Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne did their final shows Saturday at the Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park in their hometown of Birmingham, England. Ozzy played five songs in his set -- four from Blizzard of Ozz, including "I Don't Know" and "Crazy Train," and "Mama I'm Coming Home" from No More Tears. He appeared on stage in a dramatic way, as the front of the stage slid away and he rose up from underneath seated on a huge black throne, where he also remained for his set with Sabbath. Despite his medical issues and not doing a full show in over seven years, Ozzy's vocals were surprisingly strong with the only glaring error happening during "Mama I"m Coming Home," where he seemed a bit emotionally overcome.
Ozzy was backed by longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde (who sang along with Ozzy on most of the songs), Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez, drummer Tommy Clufetos and keyboardist Adam Wakeman, son of former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. After a quick changeover, Ozzy and Sabbath played a four-song set with three from Paranoid -- the title track, "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" -- and "N.I.B." from their self-titled debut. It was the first time they'd played with drummer Bill Ward in almost 20 years. Ozzy thanked the audience multiple times during both sets, saying at one point, "I've been laid up for six years. It's so good to be on stage. You have no idea."
The rest of the all-star event featured multiple Black Sabbath covers.
·Metallica did "Hole in the Sky" and "Johnny Blade."
·Guns n' Roses opened their set with four covers in a row -- “It’s Alright,” “Never Say Die,” “Junior’s Eyes” and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.”
·Tool did "Hand of Doom."
·Pantera played “Planet Caravan” and "Electric Funeral." (And inspired host Jason Momoa to leave the stage and start a pit in the crowd during "Cowboys From Hell.")
·Alice in Chains performed "Fairies Wear Boots."
·And Mastodon did “Supernaut” with an all-star drum circle that featured Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande, Gojira’s Mario Duplantier and Tool’s Danny Carey.
Two all-star groups did Ozzy and Sabbath covers. "Supergroup A" had the surprise addition of ex-Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing for a cover of "Breaking the Law" sung by Billy Corgan
of The Smashing Pumpkins. "Supergroup B" had the surprise addition of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones on "Train Kept A-Rollin'."
"Supergroup A"
1."The Ultimate Sin" (Ozzy cover with Lzzy Hale, Nuno Bettencourt, Jake E Lee, David Ellefson, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman)
2."Shot in the Dark" (Ozzy cover with David Draiman, Jake E Lee, David Ellefson, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman)
3."Sweet Leaf (Sabbath cover with David Draiman, Nuno Bettencourt, Scott Ian, David Ellefson, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman)
4.Believer (Ozzy cover with Whitfield Crane, Nuno Bettencourt, Scott Ian, Frank Bello, II of Sleep Token and Adam Wakeman)
5.Changes (Sabbath cover with Yungblud, Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, II and Adam Wakeman)
"Supergroup B"
1."Breaking the Law" (Judas Priest cover with Billy Corgan, Tom Morello, K.K. Downing, Adam Jones, Rudy Sarzo and Danny Carey)
2."Snowblind" (Sabbath cover with Billy Corgan, Tom Morello, K.K. Downing, Adam Jones, Rudy Sarzo and Danny Carey)
3."Flying High Again" (Ozzy cover with Sammy Hagar, Nuno Bettencourt, Adam Wakeman, Rudy Sarzo, Chad Smith and Vernon Reid)
4."Rock Candy" (Montrose cover with Sammy Hagar, Nuno Bettencourt, Adam Wakeman, Rudy Sarzo, Chad Smith and Tom Morello)
5."Bark at the Moon" (with Papa V Perpetua, Vernon Reid, Nuno Bettencourt, Adam Wakeman, Rudy Sarzo and Travis Barker)
6."The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (with Steven Tyler, Ron Wood, Nuno Bettencourt, Tom Morello, Andrew Watt, Rudy Sarzo and Travis Barker)
7."Walk This Way / Whole Lotta Love" (with Steven Tyler, Nuno Bettencourt, Tom Morello, Andrew Watt, Rudy Sarzo and Chad Smith)
Black Sabbath Get Immortalized As LEGO Figures
Black Sabbath is being immortalized in figurine form.In the UK band's hometown of Birmingham, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is immortalizing the band as LEGO figures. The concert setup and member likeness is pretty spot-on, aside from left-handed guitarist Tony Iommi being depicted as right-handed. Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward recently reflected on how they want Black Sabbath to be remembered after they take their final bow. "You can never know how your life turns out," Iommi pointed out. "It's just believing in what you do and following that path. That's always what I've had and not give[n] up on it."
THE OSBOURNES, SLIPKNOT: A Surprise Engagement
Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne finished up their live careers at Back to the Begnning on Saturday, but one Osbourne started a new part of her life at the show. Sid Wilson of Slipknot proposed to Kelly Osbourne backstage at the show at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
Kelly posted a video of the moment on Instagram. In the video Wilson tells her, "Kelly, you know I love you more than anything in the world," but then Ozzy interjects, "[Eff] off, you’re not marrying my daughter." Wilson finished the proposal and Kelly said yes, with their friends and family cheering them on. The couple have been dating since January 2022, and their son Sidney was born at the end of that year.
RINGO: Happy Birthday!
Ringo Starr celebrates another milestone today (Monday July 7th), as he turns 85. And, as he's done the past 17 years, he's inviting everyone around the world to proclaim "peace and love" at noon local time. "Peace & Love is important. I think it's a better world being a 'Peace & Love' world. While this madness is going on you can have a moment. And that's how it is."
And he'll be doing just that at noon PT at Beverly Hills Garden Park in Beverly Hills, California, home to his stainless-steel, eight-foot-tall, 800-pound peace sculpture. Joining him will be his brother-in-law Joe Walsh along with Ed Begley Junior, Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett,
Colin Hay, Jim Keltner, Steve Lukather, Richard Marx, Linda Perry and others. Ringo’s message of Peace & Love will again be broadcast to the universe when it's beamed to the Moon and back to Earth, courtesy of Intuitive Machines through their transmission partner Goonhilly Earth Station in the United Kingdom. They will transmit Ringo’s message in intervals to the Moon, where it will bounce off the lunar surface and will return to Earth by Goonhilly’s GHY-3 antenna. Then, at noon PT, he will give the command to the mission control team in Houston and his message of Peace and Love will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS).
Ringo says, “It's so great how this keeps growing -- we are in 38 countries!!! And we can't forget the guys in the spaceship!..." Ringo was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Beatles in 1988 and for his solo work in 2015. He'll be back on the road with his All Starr Band starting September 10th in Chicago.
Ringo Starr Shares Thoughts About His Beatles Biopic
There are currently four Beatles biopics in the works, one for each member, and Ringo Starr is spilling some tea about his. During an interview with “The New York Times,” Ringo Starr shared about working with director Sam Mendes and adjusting the script. The drummer "offered extensive notes" about his upbringing in Liverpool and his first marriage, and wasn't satisfied with the initial script he read. Starr noted "He had a writer, very good writer, great reputation, and he wrote it great, but it had nothing to do with Maureen and I." He added "That's not how we were. I'd say, 'We would never do that.'" Starr was happy with the edits, "but he'll do what he's doing." Starr is happy with Mendes, saying "and I'll send him peace and love." Barry Keoghan is set to play the drummer in his film.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Rocked All Over Part of the World
Bruce Springsteen brought his U.K. and European tour to an end last Thursday in Milan, Italy, finishing the show with John Fogerty’s “Rockin’ All Over the World,” which has become his standard last song at tour finales after he played it in 2009, 2012 and 2016. This tour started on February 1st, 2023 in Tampa. He did two U.S. legs that year, as well as one in the U.K. and Europe for a total of 66 shows in 51 cities. In 2024 he again went on two U.S. legs, with another run through the U.K. and Europe, ending the year with a Canadian leg for a total of 48 shows in 37 cities. This year was just England and Europe with 16 shows in 10 cities. In total he played 130 shows in 98 cities across 19 countries over 29 months. The U.K. and Europe saw the most shows with 69, followed by the U.S. with 53 and Canada with eight.
Going forward, Springsteen tells Rolling Stone his tours won't be as long. "Rather than do a 130-show stretch, which we did this time because we had been off for six years (since 2016), so I had to get back in touch with my audience, and it was fun playing with the band…in the future, I think we’ll probably play more often and less dates.”
Springsteen has two albums in the can and he'd like to go on a solo tour. But he's also in talks to take The E Street Band to Australia for the first time since 2017.
NEIL YOUNG: Everybody Knows He Is Somewhere
Neil Young has been documenting on his website his European tour with his latest backing band, The Chrome Hearts. With 11 chapters in the book, he's written about rehearsals, his fans, the venues, bus rides between shows, the scenery, saying that "natural preservation is everywhere," all while adding the occasional bit of "bad news" from America. Last Thursday, he wrote: "July 4th is tomorrow. Now it may be remembered as the day the American way of life died. While people in the richest nation on Earth are without healthcare, billionaires take private jets to weddings ... billionaires are the big story, covered in full by the U.S.A.'s corporate paid press. You can tell that this driving us all nuts. We love America. How could we have voted for this? The answer is: We didn't. We have been lied to..." And he followed that up in another post with: "Good to know the President hates me... U.S.A. needs leadership. [It's] going the wrong way... How can a COUNTRY BE SO BLIND TO TRUTH?..."
Young heads to Stuttgart, Germany on Tuesday. Last Wednesday in The Netherlands, Young performed a full-band version of “Ambulance Blues” for only the third time. In introducing it, he said, "I haven’t played this in like 100 years. We’ll see what happens.” The last time he played it was on January 26th, 2019, at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis, but that was a solo acoustic version. The last time he did it with a band was with R.E.M. at his Bridge School benefit in 1998. "Ambulance Blues" is off his fifth album, 1974's On the Beach.
GREEN DAY: Billie Joe's Curse-Filled Fourth
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day has made it clear he isn't a fan of President Donald Trump. And he decided to remind people of the that for the Fourth of July. Green Day performed at the Rock Werchter festival in Belgium on Friday, and during "Holiday," Armstriong told his crew to cut the lights before leading the crowd in a chant of “[Efff] Donald Trump.” Later on in the set Armstrong sang a few lines of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as an intro to "Wake Me Up When September Ends."
FOREIGNER: Lou to the Rescue
Foreigner have released "Fool If You Love Him," the first of five previously unreleased songs on the deluxe edition of their fourth album, 4. Bassist Jeff Pilson says, "The song had one verse in it, and [original singer] Lou [Gramm] had sung one verse and he sang the chorus... He was mumbling the second verse. So we called him and said, 'What do you think about finishing and singing the song?' So he said, 'Absolutely.' He wrote and finished two verses and sang them, added cowbell, and we now have a new, old Foreigner song." The four other unreleased songs on the deluxe edition of 4 are "Love So Much Better," "Knockout Power," "Jealous Lover" and "Don't Say No," which is an early version of the album's "Don't Let Go." In addition to these songs, the album also contains 14 early versions and alternative mixes, 15 instrumental rough mixes, and 15 songs recorded on their 1981 and '82 tour. 4, which not only was their fourth album, but also signified their going from six to four members with the departure of Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood, will be reissued on September 12th.
Lou Gramm will join Foreigner for their 4 Deluxe shows in the Northeast in December.
12/3+4 - Port Chester, NY - Capitol Theatre
12/6 - Staten Island, NY - St. George Theatre
12/7 - Bethlehem, PA - Wind Creek Event Theater
12/9 - Wallingford, CT - Oakdale Theatre
12/11+12 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theater
12/13 - Williamsport, PA - Community Arts Center
"Fool If You Love Him" is the second new Foreigner song with Gramm in just under two years. In October 2023 they released "Turning Back the Time" as part of their latest hits collection of the same name. It was recorded in 1996 but sat on the shelf until band founder and guitarist
Mick Jones and the song's co-writer and co-producer Marti Frederiksen added guitars. Jones also added keyboards with Frederiksen, and his son Evan played bass and drums. Gramm’s vocals are from the original demo.
OASIS: Play Deep Cuts, Joke About Ticket Prices at Tour Opener
Oasis opened their reunion tour Friday and Saturday night in Cardiff, Wales by playing some deep cuts -- and making a couple of cracks about ticket prices. As expected, Noel and Liam Gallagher were joined by guitarist and co-founder Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, who played his first show with the band since 1998; guitarist Gem Archer; bassist Andy Bell, who first joined the band in 1999; and new drummer Joey Waronker. The setlist was the same for both nights, with eight songs from (What's the Story) Morning Glory, six from Definitely Maybe and five B-sides that later showed up on the compilation The Masterplan. Only one song from their post-'90s catalog made the set -- the Noel Gallagher-sung "Little By Little" from 2002's Heathen Chemistry. During the part of the set where Noel sang lead vocals on a string of songs, he said, “I hope it was worth 175 pounds of anybody’s money. Sorry, 210 pounds. Sorry, 250 pounds.” Liam later told the audience, "Yeah, you’re having a good time, yeah? Was it worth the 40,000 pounds you paid for a ticket?" The Oasis tour continues Friday in the band's hometown of Manchester, England.
STEVE MILLER: 50th Anniversary of a One-Off Hit
Steve Miller only played two shows in 1975 -- one in New York, and the other 25 miles outside of London, on July 5th. Asked if he'd perform at the Knebworth Festival before headliners Pink Floyd, he initially declined because he had no band at the time and didn't think he could assemble one on short notice. But after the promoters offered to double his already lucrative paycheck, he called ex-Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford, guitarist Les Dudek and bassist Lonnie Turner. “I said, ‘How’d you guys like to have an all-expense paid vacation to London next week?” They said, ‘What is it?’ And I told them and they said, ‘Yeah.’ And they came over and rehearsed in my house — ran through the numbers we were gonna do, a lot of which were Jimmy Reed numbers and knocked everybody out. And I wrote ‘Rock’n Me’ because I was sitting there going, ‘It’s going to be 150,000 people. Pink Floyd will come on when it’s dark and the lights turn on. They’ll put me on while the sun’s going down and everybody’s cold. And the P.A. will be bad, so I’m going to have to rock everybody out. I wrote ‘Rock’n Me’ for that in about 20 minutes.” "Rock'n Me" was his second number-one song following "The Joker" in 1973, and his last before his final number-one, "Abracadabra" in 1982.
Miller returns to the road on August 13th in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
Debbie Harry Says Blondie Is Done
Debbie Harry says she doesn't see a way for Blondie to continue after the passing of founding member Clem Burke. Burke passed in April at the age of 70; Harry tells "Vanity Fair," "Keeping a rock band together for 50 years was like a marriage, and it’s sad that with Clem’s passing and without having Chris [Stein] onstage, I can’t see myself being onstage as Blondie, even though I am the face of Blondie." Stein hasn't officially retired, but he has been dealing with atrial fibrillation (AFib) and prostate cancer, which have caused him to stop performing live.
IN OTHER NEWS
Mick Jagger sings on “Empty Chair” on the new album from Nigerian singer-songwriter Burna Boy. The album, No Signs of Weakness, will be released this Friday.
Elton John did an hour-long set at New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft’s Fourth of July party in the ritzy Hamptons section of Long Island, New York. Having stopped touring because he was tired of what he called “schlepping,” he schlepped over the Atlantic from London for the show, and had a red piano flown in from Los Angeles. Among the guests were Kenny Chesney, Mike Tyson, Jerry Seinfeld, and Sylvester Stallone. Elton also performed at Kraft’s wedding in 2022.
After a two-week break, the Brotherhood of Rock tour with Styx, The Kevin Cronin Band, and Don Felder, resumed last Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri – and joining Cronin on this leg is his son Josh as assistant tour manager. He says, “Josh has a degree in Music Industry from USC (University of Southern California), took care of the business end of [his band] Sir Please, and toured as the merch-guy with Sara and the Sundays. So for the rest of the summer tour, I will have a little bit of home out here with me.” The tour moves to Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday.
Queen guitarist Brian May has finally gotten around to paying tribute to Bad Company co-founder and guitarist Mick Ralphs, who passed away last month. He says, “So sad to hear of the passing of the great Mick Ralphs – a wonderful instinctive player with a massive sound and superb feel, classic songwriter, and originator of many immortal riffs. Respect and love, Mick. RIP.” Ralphs, 81, succumbed to cancer and complications from a stroke on June 23rd. Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers was a member of Queen from 2004 to 2009.
The Scorpions’ 60th anniversary show this past Saturday, July 5th, in their hometown of Hannover, Germany was captured for a live album. Coming Home Live will be released on CD and vinyl on November 14th.
Michael Anthony, showing that "rock stars" are the same as everyone else, has posted a video on Instagram of the carpets being changed in his Southern California home followed by one of his July 4th barbecue.
Mick Fleetwood celebrated July 4th by donning a “Rocky” suit – boxing shorts with a shirtless muscular top – and doing a little dance, which you can watch on Instagram.