Sammy Hagar says bands felt snubbed from Ozzy Osbourne’s last show
Sammy Hagar recently opened up about the Black Sabbath farewell show. Speaking on Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, he revealed that some artists who weren’t invited to participate were upset about being excluded.
Sammy Hagar said he felt genuinely honored when Tom Morello called him to join. He emphasized that the performers who took part were there out of respect for Ozzy Osbourne and Sabbath, not for personal gain.
Sammy Hagar talks about some musicians being excluded
At the same time, Hagar admitted he knew several fellow musicians who were frustrated or disappointed about being left out of the lineup. He made it clear, however, that the invitations weren’t up to him — he simply accepted when asked.
“[It was] an honor to have been asked to be on that show. And everyone was there for Ozzy and for Black Sabbath. They were there for the right reasons,” Hagar said. “And anybody that wasn’t asked to be on that show, I know they’re pissed. I have a couple friends that [were, like], ‘Man, well, they didn’t ask me.’ And I’m going, ‘Hey, listen, it wasn’t my choice.’ I took the phone call [from Tom Morello] and said, ‘Yep.’”
Sammy Hagar praised the Ozzy/Black Sabbath tribute show, calling it full of “magical moments.” He highlighted Ozzy’s set as especially powerful and singled out Yungblood, comparing his energy to Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury, saying he’s destined to be the next major rock superstar.
“That event was amazing. There were quite a few magical moments, I’ve gotta tell you. And, of course, Ozzy’s thing was magic — Black Sabbath, my god, that was just magic,” he continued. “But Yungblud, that dude is a bad, bad young boy. He is the man. That guy is gonna be the next big superstar, if he isn’t already. I mean, he’s frickin’ huge, but he’s Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury reincarnated. Man, this guy is just — he was so blown away [by] his performance.”
The singer also highlighted the versatility of guitarist Nuno Bettencourt during the event.
“And the other person that was really impressive in that whole thing was Nuno Bettencourt. Nuno Bettencourt played with almost everyone, and he killed it. Every song that he played, he brought it,” Hagar said.
“Tom Morello played a lot of the stuff too, and Tom’s good, but he’s a different kind of player. Tom’s got his own really unique style to where Nuno, he adapted to everybody’s style. And, yeah, it was really good.”
“And Billy Corgan from The [Smashing] Pumpkins. Billy was great. I mean, when he did [Judas Priest’s] ‘Breaking The Law’, it was so badass,” he added. “I don’t know why, but it was really, really cool. It was a great event.”
Sammy Hagar had performed at the July 5th Back To The Beginning event in Birmingham, U.K. Hagar sang Ozzy’s 1981 classic “Flying High Again” with a supergroup featuring Nuno Bettencourt, Vernon Reid, Adam Jones, Rudy Sarzo, and Chad Smith.
