“We all talked to each other before we went on – Kirk, Zakk and Slash. Kirk said, ‘I’m nervous, man!’ I said, ‘I am too’”: Jerry Cantrell looks back at the “walk-off home run” of Ozzy Osbourne’s final show

When Jerry Cantrell looks back on Black Sabbath icon Ozzy Osbourne’s final stand on stage, he’s all smiles. “It was nuts,” he tells Guitar World. “We paid tribute – we did our little part to honor the man and the band. I’m grateful to have been invited, but most importantly, to share in it and see it happen.”

Fans gathered in Birmingham on July 5 with the expectation of seeing Ozzy for the final time. His death 17 days later made it a certainty. And while Cantrell didn’t get to check in with the Prince of Darkness – who helped launch Alice in Chains by taking them on tour in the ’90s – the guitarist has no regrets.

“I was on the side of the stage, surrounded by all my friends who’d just played,” he says. “We watched the man and the band do their thing in their element one final time. It was fucking epic. That’s a fine final goodbye right there for me!”

Now Ozzy is gone, has Back to the Beginning taken on a greater meaning for you?

“It sure has. It’s important to keep in the moment in life, and that’s not always easy. Just to be around that energy of that show, the anticipation, and be like, ‘Fuck, this is really gonna happen,’ it was nuts.

“Standing on the side of the stage, we were all fans, and in the prime spot. It was like the biggest rock and roll high school reunion that never happened before; it’ll never happen again.”

It must have been a trip to watch Nuno Bettencourt, Jake E. Lee, Vernon Reid, Tom Morello and others share the stage.

“I had the same conversation with all those guys you’ve mentioned! We all talked to each other before we went on – Kirk [Hammett], Zakk [Wylde] and Slash.

“When Kirk rolled in he was like, ‘I’m fucking nervous, man!’ I was like, ‘I know, dude. I am, too. It’s not our shit I’m nervous about, it’s the fucking Sabbath song we’ve gotta play. I don’t wanna fuck it up!’

“There’s a certain element of rock ‘n’ roll being a young thing, you know? It helps keep you young; you have to keep yourself rooted there to have a proper, irreverent kind of magical mindset to make good rock ‘n’ roll.

“It takes you right back to being a kid in a garage with your buddies, taking a beer from your dad’s stash, maybe smoking a shitty dirt-weed joint, and trying to learn a Sabbath song. We all talked about that – it was just fucking cool.”

Did you get to spend any time with Ozzy?

“I could have if I’d stayed after the show, because he stayed and hung out with everybody. But I was at the tail end of six weeks of touring; I just wanted to go to bed and get on the plane. So I thought I’d already had the best experience.”

Alice in Chains took part in Ozzy’s No More Tours run in the ’90s, so you’ve got a long history. How will you remember him?

“I don’t think it can be overstated how intertwined he and Black Sabbath are with all of rock ’n’ roll. If there are dominant genes for heavy rock and metal, it’s fucking Sabbath. They’re on the Mount Rushmore – that’s fucking big.

“Of course, I was very sad when Ozzy died. But upon further reflection, if you think about it, for him to rally and work his ass off for a couple of years to to do that thing, it’s perfect.

“For Morello and Sharon Osbourne to organize all that, and to pull it off let alone have it be as cool as it was… not many artists get that sort of exit. Maybe it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty fucking close. If you wanna talk about a walk-off home run, that’s what it was.”