“The crown will forever remain yours!” – XOSG 🤘
Well now, this clears the fog in the valley of doom. After weeks of whispers, speculation, and fans wondering “Where the hell were Soundgarden?” during Black Sabbath’s epic “Back to the Beginning” farewell bash in Birmingham, we finally have an answer straight from the grunge gods themselves.
In a heartfelt, poetic, and very Soundgarden statement posted to their Instagram, the band paid their full respects to Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, while also explaining why their names were on early line-ups but not on the final stage. And no, there was no beef, no drama — just the usual chaos of juggling a million rock star diaries.
“We are super bummed and regret that we were unable to coordinate the schedules of our individual and collective projects to attend and contribute to the festival.” 😔
Oof. You can almost hear the sigh behind that sentence.
🎤 A Tribute Fit for the Masters of Metal
While they couldn’t make it to Sabbath’s last stand, Soundgarden didn’t skimp on the love. Their words were nothing short of rock poetry:
“Congratulations to Black Sabbath on the grand and final pealing of their vesper bells!… Thank you for an astounding career that provided us and your legion of fans with a lifetime of beauty, horror, love, power, happiness, melancholy and a profoundly sublime, yet viscerally rocking transcendence informed by both doom and hope.”
We’ve got chills. Literal doom and hope chills. 💀✨
The band praised Sabbath’s role as both inspiration and beacon throughout their journey, and gave a huge shoutout to Sharon Osbourne and Tom Morello, the show’s musical director and the glue behind the “Back to the Beginning” spectacle.
🕰️ What Was Meant to Be
Back in May, Sharon Osbourne let slip in an interview with The Guardian that Soundgarden were intended to appear, alongside Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame. And while Tyler did bring the swagger and scarves to Brum, SG sadly couldn’t join the final Sabbath supper.
No bitterness though — only love. 🤍
They also threw in a vintage Ross Halfin photo dump for good measure, including snaps from:
- Download Festival 2012 📸
- London, 2014 🇬🇧
- Tacoma, WA, 2016 🇺🇸
- And the pièce de résistance: Back to the Beginning, 2025, which they couldn’t attend, but clearly had friends capturing the magic.
(Side note: shout out to Bill Herzog for the Tacoma shot – tidy work, butt!)
💬 Final Words from the Garden of Sound
“Soundgarden loves you and embraces your rock and roll souls!
XOSG!!!”
Now that’s how you miss a gig and still turn it into a mic-drop moment. No passive-aggressive notes. No cryptic shade. Just respect. Humility. Doom. Hope. And a whole lotta Sabbath love. 🖤
Whether you were headbanging in Birmingham or reading this from your sofa surrounded by vinyls and incense, it’s clear: Black Sabbath’s shadow stretches long — and even the mighty Soundgarden bows with reverence.
🤘 In the end, it’s not about who was on the stage. It’s about who carries the torch. And Soundgarden just lit theirs with Sabbath fire. 🔥
🕯️ Raise a horn for Sabbath. Blast “Black Hole Sun.” And tell us — who else should’ve played Back to the Beginning?
Let us know on The Riff Report Forums — where the metal never sleeps. 😈🏴☠️
