Zakk Wylde on Black Sabbath’s last show: ‘It would make the world a better place’

Known for playing guitar in the band Ozzy Osbourne and in groups like Panther It is black Label Society, Zakk Wylde comes to Brazil for shows in honor of black Sabbath in the four cities where Best of Blues and Rock will take place in 2024. In fact, the artist is very supportive of a possible “last show” by the legendary British heavy metal group.

With the presentation titled Zakk Sabbathhe will be the only artist to perform in all festival cities in 2022. He plays at Rio de Janeiro (June 21th), São Paulo (22), Curitiba (23) and Belo Horizonte (25). Tickets are available on the website Eventim.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, Wylde was very excited about the shows in question, especially for meeting friends like Joe Bonamassa It is Eric Gales, also present in the event’s line-up. He then revealed how the set will have “a lot of dancing, some flamethrowers and some dancing bears. It’s going to be quite a show [risos].”

How did the decision to pay homage to Black Sabbath on stage come about?

In 1968, when black Sabbath was created by Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne It is Bill Ward, Zakk Wylde he was only a year old. In other words, he grew up with these idols in music, who represent a great influence to this day.

The idea of ​​celebrating the band in question came with an “all stars” show that he did with Blaskowith several covers by different bands, and they realized how black Sabbath it was a common point in their respective repertoires.

“If you are a classical musician, you know something about Bach, Mozart It is Beethoven,” he explained. “In a rock band, from the drummer to the bass player and all of us who played in bands as teenagers, your education was black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple.”

You’ll probably know songs by one of these bands. […] I remember being in cover bands playing at backyard parties, in kitchens, at my friends’ houses, in living rooms and basements playing these songs when I was about 15/16 years old. And now, at 57, I still play the same songs, but there are more people at parties.

What does Zakk Wylde think about a Black Sabbath reunion?

At the beginning of May 2024, Ozzy Osbourne commented how he would “take advantage of the chance” to perform one last live performance of black Sabbathin which the guitarist Tony Iommi responded like “that would be a cool thing to do, but for it to happen is another thing. But we’ll see. I mean, who knows?”

“I need to look at this realistically at my age. I can’t go out and tour for two years like we did before,” he continued (via NME). “And to set up something like Sabbath original or this, or that, or another, you need to do this for a long time because of the cost of everything. But it would be nice to do a one-off if that happens.”

A Rolling Stone Brazil, Zakk Wylde was asked to respond as an admirer of the group: what is his opinion on this subject? “That would be great. I mean, as a huge fan of black Sabbathif there were more black Sabbath, it would just make the world a better place. So there you have it. I hope the guys do that.”

On the eve of the four shows at Best of Blues and Rock, Wylde was very excited to celebrate black Sabbathas well as meeting old friends from the world of music and, of course, visiting a traditional Brazilian steakhouse: “That’s for sure. I’m always looking forward to it.”