Robert Plant revealed that he turned down an invitation to go to Black Sabbath\u2019s farewell show in Birmingham, England, last month. The star-studded Back to the Beginning concert, which served as the final performance of Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s career, took place at Villa Park in Aston on July 5. Osbourne died 17 days later at age 76.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Mojo<\/a>, Plant, 76, said he was personally invited to the concert by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, but he told him he couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, ‘Tony, I\u2019d love to come, but I can\u2019t come,’\u201d the Led Zeppelin legend told the outlet. \u201cI just can\u2019t. I\u2019m not saying that I\u2019d rather hang out with Peter Gabriel or Youssou N\u2019Dour, but I don\u2019t know anything about what\u2019s going on in that world now, at all. I don\u2019t decry it, I\u2019ve got nothing against it. It\u2019s just I found these other places that are so rich.\u201d<\/p>\n Plant explained that at this stage of his career, he preferred the smaller-scale feel of his band Saving Grace. \u201cThe gigs are small enough so that if nobody wants to go, it\u2019s not the end of the world,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so, by having that laissez-faire, easy-going attitude, instead of doing the football stadium with some old mates, there it was: we were free.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be very careful now that we make sure it stays closer to Bert Jansch than Axl Rose,\u201d the singer added.<\/p>\n Of course, Axl Rose was one of many rock legends who attended Back to the Beginning. In addition to Osbourne and Sabbath, the day-long hard rock show featured Guns \u2018N Roses, Metallica, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Tool, Pantera, Yungblud, and more.<\/p>\n At least one other big-name band was invited and then disinvited. Osbourne\u2019s wife\/manager, Sharon, told Billboard<\/a> that she was forced to remove one act from the lineup because they \u201cwanted to make a profit\u201d from the charity event. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not the time to make a profit,\u201d she added, noting that people would be \u201cshocked\u201d to find out who it was.<\/p>\n Robert Plant & Black Sabbath Go Way Back<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise that Plant was invited to Back to the Beginning. The Led Zeppelin frontman knew the group from their younger days in Birmingham. When Black Sabbath was recording their 1975 album, Sabotage, the two bands even jammed together in the studio.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were recording in Morgan Studios in London, and [Led Zeppelin drummer] John [Bonham] came down to see us,\u201d Iommi told Classic Rock<\/a> in a 2016 interview. \u201cHe brought Planty and John Paul Jones \u2013 Jimmy Page was the only one who wasn\u2019t there.”<\/p>\n “They came in and John\u2019s going, \u2018Let\u2019s play \u2018Supernaut!\u2019” Iommi recalled. “So, he sat behind the kit, and we started to play it. Of course, he didn\u2019t play it right, but we just carried on and went into a jam. \u2026We were just jamming, making stuff up. Our session went totally out of the window.\u201d<\/p>\n