Robert Plant Explains Why He Said No to Black Sabbath’s Farewell Show

When Black Sabbath took their final bow at Birmingham’s Back to the Beginning concert last month, it was a night for the history books. The charity event reunited Ozzy Osbourne with his legendary bandmates and packed the stage with rock royalty — Metallica, Tool, Guns N’ Roses, Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Travis Barker… you name it.

But one name you might have expected to see — and didn’t — was Robert Plant.

The former Led Zeppelin frontman, a fellow son of the Midlands music scene, had been personally invited by Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi to join the festivities. Plant and the Sabbath guys go back decades — before fame, before arenas, before platinum records — back to playing the same pubs around Birmingham in the late ’60s.

Yet in a new interview with Mojo, Plant revealed that despite the invite, he politely declined.

“I said, Tony, I’d love to come, but I can’t come,” Plant shared. “I just can’t. I’m not saying that I’d rather hang out with Peter Gabriel or Youssou N’Dour, but I don’t know anything about what’s going on in that world now, at all. I don’t decry it, I’ve got nothing against it. It’s just I found these other places that are so rich.”

It was a decision made just weeks before Ozzy’s death on July 22nd at the age of 76. The Birmingham show would turn out to be the Prince of Darkness’s last-ever live performance — a poignant, throne-seated set that balanced the raw power of Sabbath with a deeply personal solo segment.

Following the news of Ozzy’s passing, Plant took to social media with a simple but heartfelt tribute:

“Farewell Ozzy … what a journey … sail on up there .. finally at peace .. you truly changed the planet of rock.”

According to official records submitted by his daughter Aimée Osbourne, Ozzy died following a cardiac arrest, with the certificate listing his occupation as “songwriter, performer and rock legend.” He was buried in a private ceremony by a lake on his Buckinghamshire estate on July 31st, a day after thousands of fans lined Birmingham’s streets for a tear-filled funeral procession that paused at the symbolic Black Sabbath Bridge.

For fans still processing the loss, there’s more to come — on August 18th, the BBC will premiere Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, a deeply personal documentary filmed over the last three years of his life.

For more news update, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter!