Jake E. Lee is, understandably, widely expected to play his staple hit, Bark at the Moon, when he joins Ozzy Osbourne at the blockbuster Back to the Beginning gig next month – but the electric guitar legend has admitted he harbors some doubts over whether he’ll able to play the iconic cut.
The show will see both Black Sabbath and Ozzy bow out for the last time, and a host of guests are lined up to feature. The Prince of Darkness has already said he’ll only do “bits and pieces” at the show, with the likes of Wolfgang Van Halen, KK Downing, and Lzzy Hale all set to be involved in some capacity.
Each high-profile guest will seemingly tackle a classic Ozzy track or two across the evening’s itinerary – Sammy Hagar has already let slip what song he’ll be playing, for example – but Lee, who was shot multiple times last year, has hinted he may not be able to tackle arguably his most famed track.
“I know people are expecting Bark at the Moon, but I don’t know,” he tells Guitar World. “Right now, with my wrist, the arthritis and everything, that would be very challenging. I have a couple of months to get up to it, so I’ll practice it just in case that’s the one. But that’s going to be pretty challenging for me physically.”
Similarly, Ozzy has been going through endurance training ahead of the historic concert. For Lee, not being physically able to tackle Bark at the Moon’s gung-ho riffwork is the worst-case scenario. That’s necessitated a plan B. Just in case.
“I'm shooting for Ultimate Sin [the title track from his second and final Ozzy album],” he reveals. “It's heavy, and I like the solo in it.”
Regardless of what song he ultimately performs on the night, Lee says it’s “thrilling” to be involved in his former employer’s swan song. He was a notable absentee at the singer’s second Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last year, during which Wolfgang Van Halen seemingly put the long-standing EVH-Randy Rhoads rivalry to bed.
“Sabbath was one of my three favorite bands,” Lee beams. “It was just chemistry between the players that you can’t plan on or make happen. If any one of those guys aren’t in Sabbath, it’s just not as good.
“Dio did a good job,” he adds, “but it just wasn’t Sabbath to me. And Bill Ward just had that swing that made them sound so different from every other band that was trying to play metal.”
Looking back on how the Ozzy gig changed his life, and the thing most players get wrong when playing Bark at the Moon, Lee once said: “I went from being just another guitar player in L.A. to playing at the US Festival in front of hundreds of thousands of people and traveling the world.”
Meanwhile, Tom Morello, who has curated the event and is set to feature in an all-star supergroup on the night, has been recalling his favorite Ozzy memories, including the time he and Slash nearly got blown up in New Orleans.
For more from Back to the Beginning’s all-star cast on what to expect on the night, and their words on the legacy the band have forged, pick up the latest issue of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.
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