Adam Jones Reveals How Tool Landed on the Back to the Beginning Lineup After Initially Turning It Down

June 17, 2025 12:28 pm

Next month, the original Black Sabbath lineup will perform for the last time at Ozzy Osbourne’s final performance. Titled Back to the Beginning, the massive event will take place in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, and will feature one of the greatest lineups in metal history. Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Tool, and many others are on the bill. However, Tool nearly skipped the once-in-a-lifetime event.

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In a recent interview with Guitar World, Adam Jones revealed that Tool initially passed on playing Back to the Beginning. He also revealed the chain of events that led the band to finally sign on to play during the event.

Adam Jones on Why Tool Almost Didn’t Play Back to the Beginning

Tom Morello, who is performing at Back to the Beginning and serving as the event’s music director, contacted Tool and invited them to play. However, they initially decided to pass on the opportunity.

“The four of us were on the phone, or texting–I can’t remember–and someone went, ‘I don’t think I can do it.’ Someone else went, ‘Okay, yeah. I think I’m gonna do this other thing,’” Jones recalled. “I think I even went, ‘Yeah, let’s not do it.’ But it was really an honor that they asked us,” he added.

However, Morello was persistent. He decided that if he couldn’t get Tool to perform at the event, he would recruit individual members of the band to perform.

“Months later, Tom contacted me and said, ‘Would you be down to play something with me?’ I was like, ‘Hmmm, that could be fun. Yeah!’ He goes, ‘It’ll just be me, you, and Billy Corgan.’ He was thinking we could play a tune, so I said, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. But plans change. I won’t feel bad if you decide that you don’t want me to do it–but let’s do it,” Jones recalled.

After agreeing to join Morello and Corgan for a tune, Jones said he was sorry that Tool hadn’t signed on to do the event as a unit. That’s when Morello revealed that Maynard James Keenan and Dan Carey, two of the three other members of Tool, were already performing with other artists.

“I went back to our people and went, ‘Why don’t we just do it? We’re all going to be there.’ That’s how it happened and why it was announced later,” Jones said.

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