Lzzy Hale has recalled the first time she crossed paths with Tony Iommi – her “absolute favorite guitar player of all time” – after a “fluke accident” resulted in her band opening for Heaven & Hell during what would be Ronnie James Dio’s last show before he died.
The new issue of Guitar World looks ahead to the historic Back to the Beginning event, which will serve as both Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final live gig. The Halestorm electric guitar hero, along with a huge list of other big names, is set to feature on the night – and she’s now recalled the first time she crossed paths with some of her Sabbath heroes.
It was 2009 and Heaven & Hell – a reprised version of Sabbath’s Dio era featuring Iommi and Geezer Butler – were playing the final run of their The Devil You Know tour. As Hale recalls, Halestorm stepped in to save the last show at the last minute.
“The boys and I had just gotten off tour and were on our way home,” Hale recalls of how she first crossed paths with Iommi and co. “We got a call from our booking agent saying, ‘Heaven & Hell's opener dropped out for their last show. Do you want to open for them?’ We were like, ‘Oh, my god, yes!’”
They say don’t meet your heroes, but the band received a warm welcome from the godfather of heavy metal.
“We opened for them and got to know Ronnie James Dio, Geezer, and Tony,” she says. “They made us feel like family. They hung out with us until about three in the morning.”
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It would become a bittersweet memory for Hale, though, because not long after the gig, Dio passed away.
“A couple of months later,” Hale continues, “Ronnie was diagnosed with cancer. That ended up being the last show Dio ever performed.”
Hale, Kramer’s first female signature artist, is set to appear at Back to the Beginning alongside Billy Corgan, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Sammy Hagar, who has already let slip what he’ll be doing on the night.
Those performers are set to be involved during the Ozzy Osbourne solo and Black Sabbath sets, meaning – after hanging out with her heroes all those years ago – Hale now gets to share the stage with them and help them sign off in historic fashion.
“It's a dream come true,” she says. “Why do we do what we do? Why did we start a band, keep going when things got tough, and remain in the same band as Halestorm? We boil it down to the fact that these men, against all odds and with society saying, ‘You shouldn't write about this,’ proved that there are no rules to this music thing. Music is magic.
“It's a portal to this other world – but we can be a vessel for it,” she continues. “Music is a language for the downtrodden, the silent ones, the ones with the darker thoughts who are ostracized. We are the voice for the voiceless – and that is what Black Sabbath began for all of us. They gave me a voice when I didn't have one.
“They're one of a kind, and no band will ever top them. But we can all try.”
For the masses unable to get tickets to the show, Back to the Beginning will be live streamed, and there are plenty of reasons to tune in. Alongside a stellar line-up that includes Metallica, Gojira, and Guns N’ Roses, there will also be a supergroup featuring Tool, Rage Against the Machine, and Smashing Pumpkins members.
Pick up a copy of Guitar World from Magazines Direct to read the exhaustive Sabbath feature in full.
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