Former Ozzy Osbourne lead guitarist Gus G recently addressed his absence from the legendary singer’s final live performance.
During an appearance on the “Signals From Mars” podcast hosted by Victor M. Ruiz, the Greek guitarist spoke about the “Back To The Beginning” charity event. The concert, held on July 5, 2025, at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom, served as the final performance for both the original Black Sabbath lineup and Ozzy Osbourne as a solo artist.
Asked if he received an invitation to participate in the milestone show, Gus G gave a direct answer.
“No, no. I wasn’t asked.”
When questioned if missing the event felt bittersweet, the guitarist explained his practical outlook on the situation and revealed a major personal scheduling conflict that occurred at the same time.
“Not as much, man. And I don’t want this to come off the wrong way — of course I would’ve loved to be there. Who wouldn’t? Don’t get me wrong — I would’ve definitely loved to be there. I really wanted to see Ozzy one last time, to give him one last hug. But at the same time, I realized that probably I wasn’t really needed there. There were so many people there. So this is one factor. So it didn’t really bother me in that sense. My mindset was more as a fan. When I saw the press release, I’m, like, ‘Oh, cool. Ozzy‘s finally doing his last show. This is cool.’ Because I know how much he really wanted to get back on stage. I’m like, okay, this is cool. He finally decided he is gonna do this, and he’s gonna go out in the biggest way possible.’ So as a fan, I was like really excited. And then the second thing was, man, I had my kid the day before the show in Birmingham. We were expecting my first baby. So, yeah, I think even if I was invited, I probably would’ve had to sit out of the rehearsals or something. I think it was one of those situations where I came to the realization, ‘Well, this is really not meant to happen for me. I have really something much more important that I should be attending.'”
After Ruiz pointed out that Gus G is among the small group of guitarists to have recorded full studio albums with Ozzy Osbourne, he replied:
“Yeah. And this is a good way to just look at things, because I hear this a lot about me with Ozzy, like, ‘Oh. It’s such a pity that you didn’t do a follow-up.’ ‘It’s such a pity you were not there on the last [show].’ And I’m thinking, ‘Well, you’re trying to look at it from the half-empty glass.’ I always think, like, how incredible, how fantastic that all this even happened for me. So how incredible that I even got to do a whole album. And I was originally signed to do an album and a tour, and I ended up being with the Osbournes for about seven years, playing on various tours and one-off shows and whatnot. So I got a lot more time with Ozzy on stage and off stage than I was offered originally or even promised. So, I have no complaints.”
The guitarist also noted the exclusive nature of the role, pointing out that notable players like Nuno Bettencourt, George Lynch, Alex Skolnick, and Buckethead either auditioned or were considered for the position over the years without securing it.
“You hear all these stories from all these incredible legendary players, how they auditioned, they did one gig or they did one audition, they were offered the gig and then somebody changed their mind and those guys never got the gig. And I’ve read a lot of those stories since Ozzy‘s passing, a lot of stuff surfaced. I’m, like, ‘Wow, they must have auditioned everybody in Hollywood. They must have, at some point, hired everybody and fired them.’ So you see, just by putting all these stories together, how rare this was. Like, what were the chances of a guy like me, a kid from Greece, not even from America, from a small, small country, that has really no history in heavy metal to even get to that level, to be there in that room with them and to get the stamp of approval. So, to me, it means that everything, man. It’s like one of those stamp of approvals that is for life.”
