Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted made a surprise guest appearance last night, November 13, joining the southern rock band Blackberry Smoke on stage at the State Theatre in Ithaca, New York, for a powerful rendition of the Black Sabbath classic, “Children Of The Grave.”
The collaboration was a fitting tribute, as Blackberry Smoke had previously incorporated the song into their set earlier this year to honor the late Ozzy Osbourne. For Newsted, the performance was a return to the music that he has cited as his single greatest influence.
Newsted‘s connection to the Sabbath legacy is deep. He famously joined Ozzy Osbourne‘s solo band in 2003, replacing Robert Trujillo who, in a historic switch, had just left Ozzy to fill Newsted‘s vacant spot in Metallica.
In interviews from that time, Newsted spoke passionately about his lifelong devotion to Sabbath, which he said was the very foundation of his playing style.
“Black Sabbath is my all-time favorite band, and it has been ever since I started playing,” Newsted told Bass Player magazine at the time. “They influenced me so much that with every riff I wrote for Metallica or anyone else, the guys would always say, ‘We can’t play that — it sounds too much like Sabbath‘ — or, ‘Nice ripoff.'”
Newsted also recounted the “full-on” eight-day marathon he put himself through to prepare for the Ozzy audition, a process that began with a surprise call from Sharon Osbourne.
“Mike Bordin and I have been friends for years… so I got Ozzy‘s setlists for the last two tours, figured out the tunings they were using live, and made a tape with 13 tunes — six Sabbath songs and the rest Ozzy,” he explained. “I played until I could not play anymore. The flesh on my fingertips was actually cracking; it got down to the nerve, and the pain was shooting up my arm… I’d sleep with the headphones on, with my work tape playing on repeat. When I’d take 30 minutes to eat something, I’d watch old Sabbath videos. So I was literally living, breathing, eating, and sleeping Ozzy for eight days.”
The intense preparation paid off. When Newsted finally played with Zakk Wylde and Mike Bordin, he was ready.
“Then Ozzy came in… He picked five of the tunes, and from the first bit of ‘Paranoid‘, when I began playing, he started bouncing around the room,” Newsted recalled. “After the fifth tune he said, ‘If you want a job, you’ve got it.’ And I said, ‘Yes, Oz, I want it. Wherever you want me to be, I’ll be there.'”
Given that Newsted now resides in Skaneateles, New York, his appearance in nearby Ithaca was a local show for the bassist. The performance is one of Newsted‘s few public appearances since he reactivated his solo project, Newsted, in 2023.
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