Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan has expressed an air of concern about what to expect from Ozzy Osbourne’s final performance this July.
Keenan and his Tool bandmates are one of the many acts scheduled to appear at the Back to the Beginning concert, which takes place in Birmingham, England on July 5. The event will feature names such as Osbourne’s own Black Sabbath performing their final-ever show, while acts such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, and myriad others join the bill.
While Osbourne hasn’t performed a full set since Dec. 31, 2018 – two months before his diagnosis of Parkinson’s – he’s previously tempered expectations for the upcoming gig, noting he isn’t “planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath,” but rather “little bits and pieces” with the group. “I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable,” he explained.
Despite this, Osbourne told fans only last week that he’s been undertaking “endurance training” ahead of the gig in an effort to “wake up” his body after years spent recovering from numerous surgeries. “I haven’t done anything for, this will be seven years, and so I’ve been through all this surgery,” he explained. “It really is like starting from scratch.”
While Osbourne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October 2024 as a solo artist (he was previously inducted as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006), Keenan was on hand with the likes of Wolfgang Van Halen, Billy Idol, and Jelly Roll to perform a tribute set to honor his legacy.
Speaking to the Loudwire Nights podcast recently, Keenan noted that his experience with Osbourne at the induction ceremony has left him unsure of what to expect at the July event.
“I think for me, seeing Ozzy moving around at [the Rock Hall ceremony], the idea of him playing a show at all, if we’re being honest, the conversation about going to do the song was just like, ‘We’ll have this conversation, but, ahh… I don’t know that this [concert] gonna happen,’” Keenan told the podcast..
“And even now, I’m cautious about saying, ‘Yeah! All in, he’s gonna do it.’ Because man, I don’t know what kind of modern miracles we’ll come up with to get him on stage to do the songs, but this is gonna be a challenge for them.”
Keenan closed by noting he feels privileged to be included in the forthcoming event, though added he’s “preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best.”
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello will be the musical director for the show that will mark Osbourne’s first time on stage since a brief 2022 set at the NFL Kickoff in Los Angeles; his last full show was in December 2018 at the Forum in L.A. as part of his No More Tours 2 outing.
Other acts slated to perform at the final Sabbath blowout include: Halestorm, Gojira, as well as appearances by Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan and Slash, Wolfgang Van Halen, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Lzzy Hale, Disturbed’s David Draiman, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Sammy Hagar and many more.
