Sometimes it’s easy to assume that all famous people know each other. But until Saturday’s (July 5) Back to the Beginning blow-out final show honoring Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, the Prince of Darkness had never met Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose. Despite both men being hard rock royalty, their paths had somehow never crossed.
Now they have and Ozzy has deemed Axl an “utter gentleman” and friend. Alongside a sweet backstage photo in which a seated Ozzy reached out both hands to shake Axl’s right hand, Osbourne, 76, wrote, “My first time meeting Axl Rose, at my age you don’t get to meet many legends, seriously an utter gentleman.”
Osbourne followed up with a shot of him smiling and chilling in his dressing room with Rose and GNR guitarist Slash, captioned “Guns N’ Darkness.”
Rose seemed similarly smitten, posting a long note on X about the dark summit, saying, “Wow!! What an EVENT. Extremely overwhelming!! Really great crowd!! Was very emotional for everyone!! MET OZZY!! (Crazy we’d never met [before]. He was really great. It was great to meet Sabbath. [fire and cross emoji].”
Rose added, “Was hard as I imagine it was for anyone to watch his struggles while, at the same time, everyone was rooting for him and massively respecting the challenges he took head on and HE DID IT!!!! Was great to meet Ozzy’s family and see friends and peeps in all the bands in the business,” along with a series of trophy, star and arm flex emoji. “A HUGE THANK YOU again to Ozzy, Sharon, Black Sabbath, and all the fans for having us.”
GNR covered four Sabbath songs at what was billed as original lineup of the iconic metal band’s final-ever gig, rolling out “It’s Alright,” “Never Say Die,” “Junior’s Eyes” and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” as well as runs through their own “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City.” They joined the massive line-up of the show at Villa Park in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham that also featured sets from Metallica, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Tool, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and many more, led by musical director Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
In addition, Osbourne, who has fought a series of health issues, surgeries and a Parkinson’s diagnosis over the past few years, sat on a gilded throne to perform four Sabbath classics — “War Pigs,” “Iron Man,” “N.I.B.” and “Paraoid” — as well as solo songs “I Don’ Know,” “Mr. Crowley,” “Suicide Solution,” “Crazy Train” and the tear-stained metal ballad “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”
In addition to the 40,000-plus metalheads who crammed into the venue for the show, according to The Guardian more than five million fans livestreamed the metal marathon worldwide on a two-hour delay.
Check out the meet metal moment below.