MEGADETH bassist James LoMenzo has confirmed that the Dave Mustaine-fronted outfit was not invited to take part in the “Back To The Beginning” charity concert in Birmingham, United Kingdom earlier in the month.
In a post in the Back To The Beginning – Black Sabbath’s Final Concert Facebook group, Charrie Foglio, who spent a decade under the tutelage of Doc McGhee (BON JOVI, KISS) as part of the McGhee Entertainment artist management company, shared a portion of the interview she conducted with LoMenzo on July 9 for Japan’s BURRN! magazine. After Foglio noted that three out of the so-called “Big Four” of 1980s thrash metal played at the event — a reference to METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — but not MEGADETH, LoMenzo said: “Charrie, I’m going to let the cat out of the bag. The truth of the matter is, I don’t believe that anybody asked us, which was fine. Not everybody gets invited to every party. But at the same time, when we were in Europe last week, David said that he was reaching out to everybody and telling them that we were in the neighborhood and that we were close enough to come. And if they wanted us to, we could stay over for a few days and work it out… If they wanted us to. I don’t know what our manager had accomplished with that, but it didn’t get accomplished, so we just came home.”
He continued: “So I know what you’re saying [about one ‘Big Four’ band missing from the event]. Even before all of this started, everyone was saying, ‘Well, what about MEGADETH?’ It was really funny to read because there was no invite and there was no talking to people, there was actually nothing to do with any of it. It was this exciting situation where we’re celebrating Ozzy [Osbourne] in his retirement… Anyway, the show was amazing! I would have loved to have been there. I knew about the show months and months ago.
“I’ve been recording with [original BLACK SABBATH drummer] Bill Ward,” LoMenzo revealed. “He’s been doing his [new solo] record, and every now and then I’ll get this wonderful phone call from his assistant Walter saying that ‘Bill would love to have you come down and do a song with him.’ And you don’t know what that sounds like to my brain. It frazzles me, but I’ve been working with him for a while. And he intimated about the show. I would ask him if he had spoken to any of the guys in BLACK SABBATH, and he said that he spoke to Ozzy every day because Ozzy wasn’t feeling very well at that time, so I was curious. He said, ‘By the way, it looks we may do this final show.’ So he knew about it, obviously, before they announced it. So I was excited when it came to fruition because I knew that it meant a lot to all the guys in BLACK SABBATH to have Bill up there.”
Circling back to MEGADETH‘s absence from the event, James added: “I don’t see it as controversy or anything. I do know that conspicuously we were missing, but nobody was invited.”
Former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, who was fired from the band in May 2021, appeared at “Back To The Beginning”, taking part in the first of two hastily assembled supergroups which performed at the event. Ellefson played “The Ultimate Sin” (with Lzzy Hale, Nuno Bettencourt, Jake E. Lee, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman),“Shot In The Dark” (with David Draiman, Jake E. Lee, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman) and “Sweet Leaf” (with David Draiman, Nuno Bettencourt, Scott Ian, Mike Bordin and Adam Wakeman) at “Back To The Beginning”, which took place on July 5 at Villa Park in BLACK SABBATH‘s original hometown. The sold-out show was attended by 42,000 fans, with more than five million more streaming the event via VOD.
After the theatrical release of the “Back To The Beginning” movie in early 2026, there will also be a physical version available later in the year, with additional details on the rollout and release dates to be announced later.
“Back To The Beginning” was billed as 76-year-old Osbourne‘s — and SABBATH‘s — final-ever concert, with additional performances by GUNS N’ ROSES, MASTODON, PANTERA, ALICE IN CHAINS, GOJIRA and members of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, LIMP BIZKIT and JUDAS PRIEST, among others. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello curated the musical portion of the event.
Ozzy‘s wife and manager Sharon told Billboard that she was forced to remove one big name from the lineup of “Back To The Beginning” because the artist in question “wanted to make a profit” from the event. “And it’s not the time to make a profit,” she added. “After the show, I’ll let everybody know who it was. I think people will be shocked.”
Last month, Sharon revealed to Metal Hammer magazine that she got into a dispute with the manager of one of the bands who were originally slated to take part in “Back To The Beginning”.
“I had a huge, huge to-do with a manager over this celebration for Ozzy and SABBATH,” she told Metal Hammer. “And it was probably the worst way I’ve felt in years. And I don’t care what this person says about me, thinks about it, because he doesn’t know me. And he’s now going around making up bullshit lies because I threw his band off the bill.”
Sharon did not specify which band she had booted, though she did say that it wasn’t IRON MAIDEN. Two decades ago, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson was involved in a verbal battle with Ozzy‘s wife and manager when his band was pelted with eggs, lighters and ice during the final performance of its headlining performance on the 2005 Ozzfest tour.
Although TOOL‘s name was missing from promotional materials when a global livestream was announced for the concert last month, sparking rumors on Reddit that they were nixed from the festival, the Maynard James Keenan-fronted outfit took part in the concert.
Since “Back To The Beginning” was announced in February, no bands or artists had been removed from the bill, except for Wolfgang Van Halen, who was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts. It is therefore believed that the mystery band was ousted before the lineup announcement.
Ozzy and Sharon‘s daughter Kelly Osbourne denied that MEGADETH was the band which was removed from the “Back To The Beginning” lineup, writing “Nope! Not him!” below an Instagram post speculating that the Mustaine-fronted outfit was the one Sharon was referring to in her Metal Hammer interview.
Tickets for the concert sold out in less than 16 minutes in February, with more than 150,000 people reportedly in the virtual queue.
The all-day event, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa.
Formed in Birmingham in 1968, BLACK SABBATH revolutionized the music world, selling over 75 million albums worldwide and setting the foundation for heavy metal as we know it today. “Back To The Beginning” was not only a tribute to the bandmembers’ unparalleled career but also a beacon of generosity, with 100% of proceeds going to charity.
Proceeds from the “Back To The Beginning” show will support Cure Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice, a Children’s Hospice supported by Aston Villa.
