Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s upcoming farewell concert, dubbed “Back to the Beginning,” boasts an incredible lineup of hard-rock artists. As it turns out, though, two other legendary musicians who’d initially planned to play at the historic show, have had to bow out.
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In a new interview on the Loudwire Nights podcast, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson revealed that he and bandmate Geddy Lee had been invited to perform at the concert, which will take place July 5 in Birmingham, U.K.
[“Geddy and I] were asked to be a part of it, and we had agreed to do it, but other things came up,” Lifeson explained, “and sadly we had to back out of it.”
He added, “[I]t would have been a lot of fun. And we enjoy playing with other people, and it gets Geddy and me together to do stuff, and all of that.”
Alex admitted that he wasn’t necessarily a big Black Sabbath fan during the group’s heyday, “but I did get a couple records back then and I enjoyed listening to them. He added, “I respected Tony [Iommi’s] guitar playing.”
As previously reported, the “Back to the Beginning” concert will feature Osbourne playing a short solo set before briefly joining his Black Sabbath bandmates for a special performance. Osbourne, who’s suffered from various health issues in recent years, announced recently that he won’t be doing a full set with his bandmates at the event.
The show also will feature performances by a bevy of famous bands and individual artists. They include Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Tom Morello, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, and Sammy Hagar.
INTERVIEW: As Alex Lifeson Celebrates New Album With Envy of None, He Says He Was Almost Part of Ozzy's Last Show: https://t.co/BPIIHso83Khttps://t.co/BPIIHso83K
— Loudwire (@Loudwire) March 14, 2025
Lifeson Also Discussed Whether His New Band, Envy of None, Might Tour
Meanwhile, Lifeson’s current band, Envy of None, will release its second album, Stygian Wavz, on Friday, March 28. Alex, who only has played occasional live gigs since Rush’s final tour ended in 2015, was asked during the Loudwire Nights interview whether he might consider hitting the road with Envy of None.
“We’ve spoken a lot about that lately, and we’re trying to figure out how we could do it in a viable fashion,” he noted. “I toured for 40 years. I’m not really prepared to jump in a van and drive around the country and do little gigs … at a loss.”
Having said that, Alex maintained, “[I]f the record does well and there’s movement on it, and there’s the possibility of taking it on the road, for example, I could see doing several dates or little packages of dates.”
He continued, “[I]n a theater, with a nice subtle light show, with two albums’ worth of this kind of cinematic, ambient music, I think it would be a great evening of really, really emotional, passionate music. So … we haven’t discounted it, but it’s a tough process to take something out on the road these days. So, we’ll see how it goes in the next couple of months.”
Check Out Envy of None’s New Music Video for “The Story”
In advance of the release of Stygian Wavz, Envy of None have debuted a new single, “The Story,” as well as a companion music video for the song.
The clip for the ethereal indie-rock tune features Envy of None frontwoman Maiah Wynne singing and dancing expressively while wearing smeared black-and-white face paint.
Wynne shared a statement about what inspired the song and the video.
“I wrote about wanting to be better, to grow, and the sense of desperation that comes with that desire,” she explained. “To me, the song is about the struggle of not being able to break bad cycles. I had been stuck for a very long time and was trying to be better. I think it’s a theme a lot of people can connect with in some way.”
She continued, “Whether it’s habits, addiction, self-sabotage, or just unhealthy patterns, we all are trapped by something we are trying to break away from. If I had the power to write my own story, I’d want to be the hero, but so often I am my own villain.”
“The Story” is the fourth advance track released from Stygian Wavz, following “Not Dead Yet,” “Under the Stars,” and “Stygian Waves.”
Stygian Wavz will be released in various formats and configurations, and can be pre-ordered now.
Envy of None features Lifeson on guitar, mandola, banjo, and programming; Wynne on vocals and keyboards; Andy Curran on bass, guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals, and programming, and Alf Annibalini on guitar, keyboards, and programming.
Curran is a longtime friend of Lifeson who’s also a founding member of the veteran Canadian band Coney Hatch.
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