These 5 Artists Should Get ‘Back to the Beginning’ Concerts Next

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had a long run as the biggest honor a rock star can aspire to. But the bar has just been raised.

Saturday night’s Back to the Beginning concert, honoring the work of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne while serving as the singer’s last-ever live performance, set a new standard for rock and roll career celebration.

For nine hours, the biggest names in hard rock and heavy metal – including Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Slayer and Pantera – paid tribute to the guests of honor by playing dozens of Sabbath and Osbourne covers in addition to their own most popular songs.

Osbourne and the original lineup of Black Sabbath concluded the evening with brief sets of their own – naturally saving classics such as “Crazy Train” and “Iron Man” for themselves.

Read More: What You Didn’t See at Black Sabbath’s Livestream Reunion

Perhaps best of all, instead of sharing the spotlight and an audience with a half-dozen or more other artists from diverse genres like Osbourne did at his recent Rock Hall induction, all 45,000 people at the concert (held in the band’s birthplace of Birmingham, England) were there strictly to celebrate Ozzy and Black Sabbath. An additional five million people reportedly watched it all go down live via streaming pay-per-view.

To put it simply, this event was a home run, so the next natural question is, “who else can we do this for?” Of course, only the most popular and influential artists could draw the audience and peer support to compete with the scale of Back to the Beginning.

Still, there are some very strong and enticing candidates, including but not limited to the five bands listed below. One important note: Although all five of these acts started their careers over five decades ago, some are showing little or no signs of slowing down.

But the recent death of Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs, just months before his band was due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, demonstrates the importance of honoring these artists while they are still among us. Don’t think of it as a retirement party, just as a kick-ass birthday party.

As Anthrax‘s Scott Ian said at Ozzy’s farewell show: “We’re not here to say goodbye. We’re here to say thank you.” Here a quick rundown of five artists who would be perfect for a Back to the Beginning-type tribute concert:

Aerosmith

Steven Tyler wasn’t just great during his three-song Back to the Beginning set, he was incredible. Aerosmith‘s frontman showed sign of the vocal cord damage that forced the band to postpone and ultimately cancel their farewell tour almost two years ago.

It was impossible to watch his performance and not realize Aerosmith would be the perfect candidate for the next all-star celebration event. Which should take place in their hometown of Boston (or nearby Gillette stadium) of course. At the very least it would be a chance for them to end their touring career on their own terms. And if it ended up as the start of a new chapter instead, even better!

Van Halen

Nearly five years after his death, the lack of a posthumous tribute concert for Eddie Van Halen has been equal parts unimaginably frustrating and completely understandable. The fractured relationships between many Van Halen alumni is obviously a major obstacle.

Alex Van Halen, who is currently recovering from a back injury that is keeping him from playing drums, said he attempted to arrange a tribute tour with founding singer David Lee Roth, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and Joe Satriani in 2022, but that Roth torpedoed the notion of actually acknowledging Eddie at each show.

In 2024 Satriani instead joined Sammy Hagar and founding bassist Michael Anthony on a tour celebrating Hagar’s decade as Van Halen’s frontman, but Hagar and Alex Van Halen are not on each other’s Christmas card lists, to say the least.

Meanwhile Eddie’s son Wolfgang is several years and nearly three albums into launching a very successful musical career of his own. He has said that the notion of touring Van Halen music would be “very hollow,” and that the best way he can honor his father is by pursuing his own muse.

So… none of those puzzle pieces really seem to be fitting together, do they? All we can do is hope against hope that everybody can make peace and make this happen someday. Can you imagine the roster of guitarist heroes and Van Halen disciples that would descend on their hometown of Los Angeles for this one?

 

Iron Maiden

Let’s be clear – there’s no indication that Iron Maiden is anywhere near close to wrapping up their career. After all, they are still selling out arenas and stadiums around the world.

But their career to this point certainly warrants such a celebration, and it presents the band the chance to do the funniest thing ever. As any Maiden fan will tell you, they are the single most inexcusable exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

(Granted, singer Bruce Dickinson has called the institution “vulgar” and a “mausoleum,” and declared that he wouldn’t be caught dead in its hallways. But they should still be voted in.)

Anyway, here’s the plan: Book Iron Maiden’s ‘Back to the Beginning’ event in the same city and on the same day as that year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and see which one draws a bigger crowd.

 

AC/DC

As with Iron Maiden, AC/DC certainly don’t need any help selling out stadiums on their own, and seem to have even less patience with music industry ass-kissing or sentimentality. They haven’t even ever released a greatest hits album!

But we’re fantasy booking here, and who could be more worthy than Angus Young and company for such a tribute? Time zones be damned, this should take place in their home country of Australia, and one person from each band should have to wear the schoolboy outfit.

 

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones certainly aren’t last on this list in terms of merit – in fact, while several of these bands are celebrating their 50th year together Mick Jagger and Keith Richards entered their sixth decade together three years ago.

They also might be the band who has stayed the most active in recent years on this list, touring stadiums regularly (though sparingly) and having released the highly acclaimed Hackney Diamonds album less than two years ago.

It’s difficult to imagine a band or artist that doesn’t owe some debt of inspiration to the Rolling Stones. Their Back to the Beginning festival would probably have to be a two-day Wrestlemania-type event, and even then it would be hard to find space for all the artists that would want to pay their musical respects.