“Ozzy nearly blew us up!” Tom Morello reveals he and Slash were once nearly killed by sitting on Ozzy Osbourne’s pyro

Tom Morello has been trusted with overseeing one of the most important events in metal history: Black Sabbath’s upcoming Back to the Beginning show – a final bow for both the band and Ozzy Osbourne himself.

It’s a fitting role for the Rage Against the Machine guitarist, whose long-standing friendship with the Prince of Darkness has weathered just about everything… including a close brush with literal flames.

• READ MORE: “I’m very self-critical about people’s adoration”: Ozzy Osbourne still struggles to accept how influential he’s been on other musicians, even as he prepares for blockbuster farewell Black Sabbath gig

In the new issue of Guitar World, Morello looks back on a particularly explosive memory from 2015, when he and Slash joined Osbourne onstage at the Voodoo Fest in New Orleans.

“There was one time where Ozzy nearly blew up me and Slash,” Morello recalls.

“We joined him and his band as guests at the Voodoo Fest in New Orleans [in 2015], and during a part of the show where we weren’t playing, the two of us were sitting behind the stage chatting.”

The set already delivered the goods – Ozzy kicked off with I Don’t Know, invited Morello on stage for Mr. Crowley and Bark at the Moon, then returned later with Slash in tow for thunderous takes of Sabbath classics N.I.B and Iron Man alongside guitarist Gus G.

But mid-show, a crew member suddenly noticed something was very wrong.

“There’s this crew guy at the side of the stage who’s apoplectic,” says Morello. “He’s gesturing wildly to us, and finally he gets the courage to come over. And he says, ‘You guys are sitting on the pyro!’ So yeah, Ozzy nearly blew us up. Anyway, we survived that.”

And luckily for everyone, they did. Because nearly a decade later, Morello finds himself at the helm of Back to the Beginning, serving as musical director for what’s shaping up to be one of the biggest nights in heavy metal history.

Taking place on 7 July, the event will reunite the original Sabbath lineup one last time for a historic hometown show at Birmingham’s Villa Park. The one-day celebration also boasts a stacked bill featuring genre heavyweights like Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Gojira, and more.

For those who didn’t manage to secure a ticket, the concert will also be available as a pay-per-view livestream due to “overwhelming demand”.