Rob Halford , vocalist of Judas Priest , commented on the band's absence from the highly anticipated farewell show of the original Black Sabbath Back To The Beginning event , which takes place on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
Judas Priest is one of the only veteran metal bands that will not be performing at Black Sabbath's farewell show. In an interview with Metal Hammer Scorpions ' 60th anniversary show , which will take place in Hanover on July 5th: "I had no idea what was going on!"
Rob Halfod explains the reason in detail.
Halford recounted that he had received an invitation to the Scorpions' 60th anniversary show: “Everything was announced and it was a big deal – Scorpions and Priest. And suddenly I got this phone call [from Sharon Osbourne ]: 'Robbie, I know you have this job with the Scorpions, but could you consider coming to do a show with Ozzy and the guys, he'd love to see you.'”
Sharon even offered to take Rob back to Birmingham on the day of the show to make a special appearance. “I thought of Phil Collins when he did Live Aid, when he took the Concorde from London to Philadelphia to do two shows in two places,” Rob said. “He was there before he left, thanks to the time zones!”
Rob Halford explained that, as much as he would have loved to play at Sabbath's farewell show, rushing between Germany and the UK to do both performances would be dangerous:
“Even with a private plane, there’s a word called ‘technical,’ where something can go wrong, or the weather at that time of year can cause problems… I was completely devastated.”
Other bands participating in the event include Alice in Chains , Anthrax , Gojira , Guns N' Roses , Halestorm , Lamb of God , Mastodon , Metallica , Pantera , Roses, and Tool .
The event will reunite the original Black Sabbath lineup for the first time in 20 years: Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne.
READ ALSO: Lzzy Hale, from Halestorm, will be the only woman to play at Black Sabbath's final show.
