‘I Was So Happy for Ozzy and Sabbath’

Jerry Cantrell is still in a bit of a daze after performing at Back to the Beginning, the all-star tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.

“It was pretty magical,” he tells UCR. “It was like the world’s biggest rock and roll high school reunion. Everybody was there and the vibe was so cool.”

The guitarist was quick to pinpoint the unifying factor that brought everyone together so naturally. “Black Sabbath is such a seminal band and a huge part of all of our DNA,” he explains. “If you play heavy rock and roll, Sabbath is a pretty big strand of your DNA. So we’re all fans. I was just happy for Ozzy and Sabbath — and Mike [Inez] and Zakk [Wylde] too. [It was great that they got to] get up there and jam with the old man and do it the way that he wanted to do it and have a final show. To have that experience and feel the love that they deserve, it was a beautiful thing.”

Osbourne, who passed away unexpectedly on July 22 from a heart attack was able to witness a fitting tribute to his own legacy. It’s an event which still is amazing to think about, even as Cantrell looks back now. “It’s something that will never happen again, ever,” he says. “I don’t think there’s a performer like Ozzy or a band like Black Sabbath that could pull something off like that. You couldn’t fucking write it. I mean, you wouldn’t believe it. One of my favorite books is Ozzy [writing] about himself [and how he says,] ‘You couldn’t invent me, I wouldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe my fucking story.’ They got to do it the way that they wanted to do it. He got to have his last show and we got to be there to celebrate him and be a part of it.”

READ MORE: Ozzy’s Final Show: Here’s Who Covered Which Black Sabbath Songs

The Alice in Chains guitarist, who has his own distinctive sound as a player, had the unenviable task — as did many on the day — of working to honor the tone of Sabbath and in particular, Tony Iommi’s unmistakable style. The band turned in a memorable version of “Fairies Wear Boots,” from 1970’s Paranoid and Jerry is reasonably satisfied with how it turned out. “That’s not an easy fucking song to play,” he laughs. “I gave myself a B on that one. I didn’t quite nail it, but I did pretty good. Iommi’s a big influence of mine and when you talk about unique tone, the one thing that I have learned from all of the bands I’ve been a fan of and influenced by — Sabbath probably more than most, [is this] — everybody has a unique musical fingerprint. Groups, the way that they sound together, is even another more indelible fingerprint that can’t be replicated, because of the individuals involved. You make a sound individually that you develop that’s unique and then in the context of a band, you all make some sort of a thing that’s bigger than the sum of its parts.”

Watch Alice in Chains Perform ‘Fairies Wear Boots’

Outside of the Alice in Chains performance at Back to the Beginning, Cantrell has been continuing to tour in support of his latest album, 2024’s I Want Blood. For more than a year, he’s been playing a wide variety of venues of different sizes. He relishes the opportunity to continue to share the musical experience with fans and his fellow peers. “Having the opportunity to fucking do it again, to to see what the fuck is going down, a really cool part of the job is being able to travel the world,” he says. “[We] go to really interesting cities and countries all over the world and hang with all sorts of different audiences. The thing that we all share in common is we’re all fucking rock and roll fans. They want to just have a good time for a couple of hours, out of [their] busy day.”

The final leg of the tour kicks off Aug. 16 in San Diego and is set to continue through Sept. 14 in Kansas City, with Sparta also on the bill for each show. You can see the entire schedule at Cantrell’s official website.