Although he covered an Ozzy Osbourne hit, there’s a Black Sabbath deep cut that Ghost frontman Tobias Forge initially wanted to sing at the band’s farewell concert over the weekend.
Forge was one of many performers who took the stage at Birmingham’s Villa Park this past Saturday (July 5) for the legendary “Back to the Beginning” concert, which served as a public goodbye to both Osbourne and Sabbath.
There were a handful of bands that played quick sets during the event, including Metallica, Slayer, Guns N’ Roses, Alice In Chains, Tool and a few others. Additionally, many other individuals musicians came together and formed supergroups to cover Osbourne and Sabbath classics throughout the day.
The Ghost frontman performed a rendition of Osbourne’s 1983 hit “Bark at the Moon” with Vernon Reid, Nuno Bettencourt, Adam Wakeman, Rudy Sarzo and Travis Barker — and the singer had a particular strategy in mind when choosing which song to do.
“There are a lot of Black Sabbath songs that have vocals, and then there’s two minutes of not-vocals, and then there’s a vocal bit… I’m not trying to make fun of anyone but I can’t just stand there like that for two minutes. So that had to play a part in my choice of songs, when we were figuring out what I was gonna do,” Forge told Planet Rock [via Metal Hammer].
One of the tracks that originally came to Forge’s head was “Am I Going Insane” from their 1975 album Sabotage. According to Setlist.fm, Sabbath only tackled the song two times live.
“For me, that’s my childhood, songs like that,” Forge said of the track.
The vocalist didn’t elaborate much on why he nixed the decision to sing that song, but he crushed it with his “Bark at the Moon” cover regardless.
Black Sabbath, ‘Am I Going Insane’
Black Sabbath Songs Ranked Worst to Best (Ozzy Osbourne Era)
A total of 79 songs, including interludes!
Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita