Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor and Halestorm singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale were among the special guests at a tribute show to Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler and famed singer Paul Rodgers earlier this week.
At the Sound & Vision Awards show in Palm Spring on Monday (March 2), the two heavy metal vocalists were part of an all-star band also featuring Butler, Rodgers, ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, ex-Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt and others.
The band performed a number of classic rock covers together, including a version of Rodger’s band Free’s 1970 single All Right Now, where vocals were provided by a chorus including Rodgers, Hughes, Taylor, Hale and Halestorm guitarist Joe Hottinger. Taylor took on lead vocals for a cover of Black Sabbath’s 1970 single Paranoid, and Hale took to the mic for a take on the band’s 1980 song Neon Knights, with Butler on bass for both renditions. Watch footage of the performances below.
The Sound & Vision Awards show was put together by Adopt The Arts: a non-profit organisation founded by Sorum which champions music education in schools. Proceeds from ticket sales went to the charity, and a charity auction for rock’n’roll memorabilia was held from February 27 to March 2.
Taylor last graced the stage with Slipknot for a headlining set at US festival Inkcarceration in July. Since then, the band have been enjoying downtime from the road, but they’ve not been inactive. They will put out their long-delayed alt-rock project Look Outside Your Window for Record Store Day in April and they seem to have been working on new music. Drummer Eloy Casagrande said in October that the band “are cooking” up some new material.
Meanwhile, Halestorm released their sixth and latest album, Everest, last August. The band toured heavily to promote the release and will return to the road with a leg of Central and South American shows later this month. In the summer, they’ll perform at European and North American festivals, and Hale and Hottinger will play a select number of intimate UK and Ireland acoustic shows in June. see all details and get tickets via the band’s website.
Hale was one of many high-profile performers who, on July 5, took to the stage for Black Sabbath’s all-day retirement show Back To The Beginning. The event, held at Villa Park Stadium in their hometown of Birmingham, featured performances from an array of vaunted rock and metal acts, before finishing with sets from Sabbath’s founding lineup and frontman Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band. Osbourne died just 17 days after the event, aged 76.
Butler paid tribute to his late singer shortly after his passing in an essay for The Sunday Times. “I first became aware of him when I’d walk home from all-nighters at a rock club called the Penthouse, in Birmingham,” he remembered.
“I had long hair down past my shoulders and looked like a hippy. Ozzy would be on the other side of the road on his way from the soul all-nighters in Brum, with his cropped hair and mod suit. Complete opposites of each other. Little did I know then that within a year we would form what would become Black Sabbath and create a whole new form of rock music.”
