During a new interview with Dave Lawrence, Tool guitarist Adam Jones opened up about what it meant to him to be able to perform at Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s farewell show “Back to the Beginning” this past July, just 17 days before Osbourne passed away.
Describing how bittersweet it was to be a part of and to witness Ozzy’s last show, Jones said:
“I didn’t see Ozzy until they wheeled them by at one point just before they went on. And I’m kind of sad about it. It makes me kind of choke up. It was such a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. But the good really outweighed the bad.”
He continued, reflecting on Osbourne’s heartfelt farewell message to his fans.
“And it was a crazy sendoff. The part where he thanked — I think it was during the Ozzy set, Ozzy thanked the crowd about his career and if it wasn’t for them… I mean, everyone was crying… Those were really heavy words. And you’d think about growing up, listening to all that music and how it affected you, and you don’t hear a lot of people express that. I mean, they might say ‘thank you’ at the end of the night. They might say, ‘We really appreciate our fans,’ but I just don’t think that cuts as deep.”
Jones went on to explain how emotionally overwhelming it was to perform at such a historic event and then to lose Osbourne just days later.
“What a day. It was really overwhelming being able to perform and then watch the show at the same time, watch the other bands. It was just quite a day. And then, a week later, Ozzy dies. And it was just shocking. But I kept telling people, it felt like a historical moment, just growing up, listening to that… And then where I am now, being on the stage playing their music for those guys. It was just– I can’t think of anything I’ve done that’s been like this.”
As Jones mentioned, Osbourne’s final words of thanks to his fans came towards the end of Black Sabbath’s set at “Back to the Beginning.”
“I just want to say to you, on behalf of the guys in Black Sabbath and myself, your support over the years has made it all possible for us to live the lifestyle we live,” Ozzy said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you, really love you.”
Jones’s emotional reaction is rooted in the fact that Tool as a band have always been outspoken fans of Black Sabbath. The members frequently cite Sabbath as a foundational influence on their sound, particularly the dark riffs and heavy atmospheres that Tony Iommi pioneered. Tool’s music, while often more progressive and experimental, carries that same weight and sense of menace that Sabbath unleashed in the early ’70s.
Adam Jones himself has long acknowledged Ozzy’s voice as one of the most distinctive in rock history, praising the way it could cut through even the thickest wall of guitar. Maynard James Keenan, too, has pointed to Sabbath as one of the key bands that made him want to pursue heavy music in the first place. In fact, Tool have included Sabbath songs in their soundchecks over the years, a nod to the band that gave them so much inspiration.
It wasn’t just admiration from afar either — Tool and Black Sabbath crossed paths many times. Tool opened for Sabbath at Ozzfest in the late ’90s, and members of both bands often spoke warmly about those encounters. For Jones, being part of Ozzy’s farewell wasn’t just paying tribute; it was closing a circle that began when he was a kid staring at a Sabbath record sleeve, dreaming of one day making that kind of music himself.
