Robert Plant has spoken about why he turned down an invitation to attend Back To The Beginning, the huge farewell concert for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath that took place in Birmingham on July 5.
The former Led Zeppelin frontman told Mojo that guitarist Tony Iommi personally reached out, but Plant ultimately decided not to go. He didn’t confirm whether he was asked to perform, only that he was invited to “attend.”
Plant’s choice seems to tie into his current priorities with his band Saving Grace, who are set for an intimate European and North American tour this autumn. He explained that, after decades of high-profile events from Live Aid to performing at the White House he now prefers to keep things small and personal. “We’ve got to be very careful now that we make sure it stays closer to Bert Jansch than Axl Rose,” he said, pointing to his desire for a more stripped-back, folk-oriented approach.
Referring to the Sabbath show, which drew around 40,000 people at Villa Park and millions watching worldwide, Plant called it “doing the football stadium with some old mates.” By contrast, he described the gigs with Saving Grace as “small enough so that if nobody wants to go, it’s not the end of the world,” embracing what he called a “laissez-faire” attitude that allows him to feel “free” and “mess about” creatively.
Plant told Iommi directly: “I’d love to come, but I can’t come… I don’t know anything about what’s going on in that world now. I don’t decry it, I’ve got nothing against it. It’s just I found these other places that are so rich.”
Saving Grace will play dates in New York, Vancouver, Chicago, Los Angeles and more later this year, alongside four intimate London shows next month. No Australian dates have yet been announced.
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