Jason Momoa has explained how he came to host Black Sabbath’s final show.
The actor – star of Game Of Thrones, Aquaman and A Minecraft Movie – will emcee Back To The Beginning at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5. Not only will it mark the last gig by the founding Sabbath lineup of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitars), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums), it’ll also be the last time Osbourne steps onstage.
Talking to NME, Momoa says that he was personally invited to host by Osbourne’s wife/manager Sharon. “I was blown away,” he adds.
The actor reveals that he doesn’t have any plans for what he’ll do or say onstage in between bands. As well as Sabbath and Ozzy, Back To The Beginning will feature sets from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer and many, many more.
“I don’t know how I’m going to host, but I’ll figure it out,” he smiles. “I’m just so excited to be there. It’s funny, because I was begging for tickets and now I turn out to be hosting.”
According to Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett in an exclusive interview with Metal Hammer last month, he was the person Momoa contacted looking for a pass to Sabbath’s swansong. That request inadvertently led to the actor hosting the show.
“It’s funny, because he called me up [about the Sabbath show] like, ‘Can you get me tickets?’” Hammett told us. “I was like, ‘Bro…’ I had management send a message that Jason Momoa wanted to come to the Sabbath show, and next thing I know we’d been told Sharon Osbourne had called him to ask him to emcee it! It was like, ‘Hell yeah!’
“So our next phone call was like, ‘I can’t believe it!’ ‘Cool, I can give your ticket to someone else then!’”
Elsewhere in the NME interview, Momoa reveals that he’s never met Ozzy before, despite filming a music video for The Prince Of Darkness’ 2020 single Scary Little Green Man. For unknown reasons, the music video was never released. He was also set to attend the last show of Sabbath’s 2016–17 ‘retirement’ tour The End in Birmingham, but missed it for personal reasons.
“I was gonna go to [Sabbath’s] last show in 2017, after I finished Aquaman,” says Momoa. “Something happened at home and I needed to fly home for my kids, and I missed the last show. I was going to be in Birmingham. I was pretty bummed about it. But, dad duties.”
He continues: “Ozzy came out with an album [2020’s Ordinary Man] and he wasn’t feeling too well, so they asked if I wanted to do the video for him. I got to do that video for him and be helpful and now, I’ve got the opportunity to host [Back To The Beginning]!”
Momoa is a known metalhead who’s been spotted in the moshpit at Metallica and Pantera concerts in the past. A Minecraft Movie is currently number one at the US box office, grossing $163 million in its opening weekend and scoring the best-ever domestic debut for a video game film adaptation.
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