Jason Momoa has spoken to NME about hosting Black Sabbath’s farewell gig at Birmingham’s Villa Park later this summer – check out his full interview with NME above.
Earlier this year it was confirmed Black Sabbath would be playing their final ever show on July 5. The epic ‘Back To The Beginning’ event will see the iconic Black Sabbath lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward play live together for the first time in two decades.
The metal legends will also be joined by a star-studded cast of opening acts and special guests, including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Gojira and more. Speaking to NME earlier this year, Sharon Osbourne described the gig as a “celebration of the genre and the pioneers who started it.”
“Usually this thing is done when you’re dead – so it’s nice that these guys can be alive to be appreciated,” she added, before confirming Jack Black and his son would be teaming up with Tom Morello’s son to recreate something from School Of Rock. “It’s amazing to see that people’s children are still influenced by Sabbath to this day. We’re here 53 years later and it’s gone from generation to generation.”
The event will be hosted by Black’s A Minecraft Movie co-star Jason Momoa, who told us that it’s going to be “the greatest show in the world”.
“When Sharon asked me to host, I was blown away,” he explained. Momoa was originally set to attend the last show of Black Sabbath’s ‘The End’ tour in 2017 after filming Aquaman but something came up at home and he had to miss it. “I was pretty bummed out about that, but Dad duties…” Then in 2020, Ozzy Osbourne released his solo album ‘Ordinary Man’ but wasn’t well enough to film the teaser video for single ‘Scary Little Green Man’, so Momoa was asked to step in.
“And now I’ve got the opportunity to host [this gig]. I was already begging for tickets, so it’s a weird world,” he said. “I’m just so excited to be there.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Momoa said the one album he always comes back to is Black Sabbath’s 1970 self-titled record. “It just introduced me to everything. There are just so many [good songs] that it blows your mind. And then they came out with ‘Paranoid’ [six months later]. One year, two masterpieces. I’m a creature of habit. I still listen to all those songs every day.”
Momoa has also picked up a new trick from his time working with fellow metalhead Black. “He picks a musician and then listens to their whole back catalogue in order. He was doing Billy Joel [on the set of A Minecraft Movie] and I think that’s a really cool way to get to know an artist.”
In addition to Momoa, Sabbath have also recruited Tom Morello to serve as musical director in Birmingham this summer. “He is so knowledgeable on all different genres of music, but especially Sabbath. He’s really passionate about everything he does and is such a great mate. The stuff that he’s managing to put together has been amazing,” Sharon Osbourne said earlier this year, with members of Limp Bizkit, KoRn, Sleep Token, The Smashing Pumpkins and Ghost all confirmed to be involved in the show.
However, Morello has also teased surprise appearances from “huge superstars” on the day. “When we first sat down, we had a very, very simple goal – and that was to make this the greatest day in the history of heavy metal,” he explained. “The idea is to really acknowledge the importance of that band in a way that the whole world will forever know it.”
‘A Minecraft Movie’ is out now in cinemas