GUNS N’Roses, Tool and Rival Sons have been added to the Black Sabbath supershow at Villa Park, and more big-name special guests have signed up to play too. What’s more, the gig will be hosted by Aquaman actor Jason Momoa.

Others to join the bill include Megadeth legend Dave Ellefson, Living Colour guitar hero Vernon Reid, Ugly Kid Joe’s Whitfield Crane, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitarist producer Andrew Watt, who has worked with Ozzy before.

Both Slash and Duff McKagan had originally agreed to guest in various ‘supergroups’ being put together for the July 5 event, but now comes confirmation that they’ll be joined by Axl Rose and the rest of the Guns N’Roses line-up.

So many special guests have signed up that the show has had to be extended, and will now run from 10am to the 10.30pm curfew.

The Back To The Beginning show, now more of a one-day festival, was only confirmed a week before it was announced officially – after last-minute talks between the original Sabbath line-up to reassure themselves that it will be a fitting farewell for the band.

It will be the first time in more than 20 years that all four original members – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – have played live together, and the decision to reunite was not taken without some qualms.

Guitarist Tony, who now lives on the South Coast, revealed: “The idea of the show had been going backwards and forwards for a while and, to be fair, I didn’t initially agree with it. I thought we’d done the farewell tour in 2017, and that was it.

“I was concerned about how everyone was going to be health-wise, and I only agreed to it last week. I had this feeling that if we were going to do it, we had to do it right – and be sure we were all capable of ensuring a fitting farewell for everyone.

“But Ozzy is really up for it. He’s been working with his vocal coach, and he says he’ll be fine. Bill is looking forward to it, and Geezer is ecstatic that we’ll be headlining at Villa Park because he’s been an Aston Villa fan since he was a kid.

Sharon Osbourne and Tony Iommi launch the show. Pic: Live Nation UK

“It’s going to be very different for us because Ozzy’s not going to be prancing about onstage – he’s going to be on a throne because he has problems with walking due to his Parkinson’s disease – but he tells me that his voice is in good shape 

“It’s the last chance for the four of us to finally get together again and play; to do what we set out to do all those years ago. We’re one of the few bands all still alive from those days. Not a day seems to go by without hearing that someone has passed away.”

Ozzy, Geezer and Bill will now jet in for rehearsals at a secret location, and the band will agree on a shortened setlist including signature songs culminating in Paranoid. The plan is for Ozzy to play a brief solo career set, and then for Sabbath to end the show, rather than crowd the stage with an all-star jam.

“It amazes me that we managed to keep it a secret, especially with all the bands, all the roadies, and all the people involved in putting the show together on both sides of the Atlantic,” admits Tony. “There must have been more than a hundred keeping mum.”

Support bands, each capable of selling out an arena in their own right, are Metallica, Guns N’Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Mastodon and Rival Sons – with a host of additional big names performing together in ‘supergroups’.

They include Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan, Disturbed frontman David Draiman, Judas Priest legend KK Downing, Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar and Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who will also act as musical director.

Meanwhile, Hollywood A-lister Jack Black, who will be in New Zealand on the day of the show, has reprised his School Of Rock movie role in a film specially shot with young rockers, which will be shown on the big screens at Villa Park.

Here’s who’ll be joining Sabbath at the gig:

• Metallica
• Guns N’ Roses
• Slayer
• Tool
• Pantera
• Gojira
• Halestorm
• Alice In Chains
• Lamb Of God
• Anthrax
• Mastodon
• Rival Sons
• Andrew Watt (Eddie Vedder)
• Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)
• Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• Dave Ellefson (Megadeth)
• David Draiman (Disturbed)
• Frank Bello (Anthrax)
• Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit)
• Jake E Lee (Ozzy Osbourne)
• Jason Momoa (Aquaman)
• Jonathan Davis (Korn)
• KK Downing (Judas Priest)
• Mike Bordin (Faith No More)
• Papa V Perpetua (Ghost)
• Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne)
• Sammy Hagar (Van Halen)
• Scott Ian (Anthrax)
• Sleep Token ii (Sleep Token)
• Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)
• Vernon Reed (Living Colour)
• Wolfgang Van Halen (Mammoth WVH)
• Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe)
• Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne)

Watch out for more household names from the world of heavy metal and hard rock joining the bill in the coming weeks, such is the clamour to be part of a show celebrating a band which has influenced so many others over the years.

All the acts are appearing for free, with profits going to the Cure Parkinson’s, Acorn Children’s Hospice and Birmingham Children’s Hospital charities.

Read more: Black Sabbath ballet is coming back to Birmingham

Nice to see the original version of this post picked up by my good friends at the Sunday Mercury newspaper in Sabbath’s Birmingham hometown.