Rob Halford will not be at the Black Sabbath show: “sorry”
Judas Priest’s frontman, Rob Halfordsaid he was “sorry to death“In order not to be able to take part in the latest Black Sabbath concert, revealing that he had not been aware of the event until he was too late. The show, scheduled for the July 5 at the Villa Park Stadium in Birminghamit will be the last live performance of the legendary Heavy Metal pioneers, and will also mark the end of the live performance of Ozzy Osbourne.
The event was announced in February and includes an exceptional line-up, with some of the most important names of the metal scene. In addition to original training of the Black Sabbath composed of Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, among the first confirmed artists there are Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Gojira, Korn, Billy Corgan of the Smashing pumpkins and others. Tools, Guns N ‘Roses, Jason Momoa, Anthrax, Soundgarden and Steven Tyler of the Aerosmith were also added later. The guitarist of the Rage Against The Machine, Tom Morello, will instead be the musical director of the show, a role that has declared to be a great honor for him.
Despite the presence of so many big names, among the absent Figures another historic metal band from Birmingham: i Judas Priest. In a new interview with “Metal Hammer”, the frontman Rob Halford explained why the band will not be present and confessed to be “sorry to die” at the idea of getting lost the song of the Sabbath swan.
The same evening as the concert at Villa Park, in fact, Halford and his band will play Hanover together with the Scorpionsto celebrate the 60th anniversary of the German hard rock band. As Halford explained, the commitment had been set before the Black Sabbath event was announced. “I had no idea that there was this thing“, The singer said:” We know the promoter Ossny Hoppe for a lifetime – it is a sort of divinity in Germany for Metal – and he presented himself to one of our last concerts by saying: ‘Would you like to do something very special and important? I am organizing the Scorpions concert for their 60th anniversary, in their hometown. Do you want to participate with the band? ‘”He continued:” I replied immediately:’ deal done! We have no other plans, it’s fine. ‘ Then it was all announced … and Suddenly I receive a call from Sharon Osbourne Who tells me: ‘Robbie, I know you have this concert with the Scorpions, but could you consider doing something with Ozzy and the others? He would really like to see you ‘. “Halford therefore said that Sharon had also proposed to him to fly to Birmingham and return with a private jet To allow him to make an apparition as a guest: “Phil Collins came to mindwhen he made the live AID: he took the agreement from London to Philadelphia to play in two different places, “explained Rob Halford, who in the end he said he refused, fearing it was too risky. “Even with a private plane, there is something called ‘technical problem’: something could go wrong, or the weather at that time of year could cause problems … I am dispelled to death“The Judas Priest frontman concluded.
Although no current member of the Judas Priest will be on the stage of the last black Sabbath show, Halford stressed that Kk Downing will be – guitarist of the band since his formation and until 2011 – and that he will represent “the spirit of the band”.
