by The American singer Sammy Hagar was one of the special guests at Back to the Beginning, festival that marked the final Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath performance.
Before the two main concerts, the special guests performed famous songs from their careers and also covers of Sabbath and Osbourne’s discography.
Hagar played with a supergroup which had Tom Morello and Nuno Bettencourt and he sang “Rock Candy” (Montrose) and “Flying High Again” (Ozzy).
In an interview with Eddie Trunk (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), Hagar revealed he was disappointed with his performance when covering the Osbourne track.
Sammy Hagar says he was disappointed with his performance at Sabbath’s festival
“I was very disappointed in myself because I thought I learned ‘Flying High Again’. I said, ‘I don’t [use a] teleprompter, I never use teleprompters.’ And I said, ‘I’m not gonna use a teleprompter.’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll put up there just in case.’ I said, ‘No, you watch this.’ I thought I had it memorized.”
“I was distracted right before I go on by a bunch of people. I’m standing on the side of stage waiting for ’em to do the set change after the drum-off, and I’m going, ‘Oh, yeah.’ I’m talking to people. All of a sudden I hear ’em announce me, and I was 50 yards from the stage. And [my wife] Kari’s going, ‘Oh, my God. They just announced you.’ And I’m going, ‘Oh, shit.’ And I go running out. I’m walking around. And they start the song, and I go, ‘Hey,’ blah, blah, blah. And then I step out on the ramp and I go, ‘Holy shit.’ … I missed that whole thing.”
He continued:
“And I’m running back looking for the fricking teleprompter. And, of course, the lyrics are moving faster than I’m singing them. But I got it together after that. But, man, if you wanna talk about having your private parts shrink up in front that crowd, that opportunity. And I choked. Sammy Hagar is a pro. Man, he choked, that fucker. So, anyway, then ‘Rock Candy’ was great. Well, that song (‘Flying High Again’) was great too, after we got it going. And the band came in backwards on the intro too, and so it was even crazier,” Sammy Hagar said.
During the same conversation, Hagar said it was an honor to have been asked to be part of that tribute. He also said there were a lot of magical moments during that day, praising Black Sabbath’s performance but also names like Yungblud that in his opinion is a mix of Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury. Hagar also praised Nuno Bettencourt, Tom Morello, Billy Corgan, Chad Smith, Danny Carey and Travis Barker for their performances.
