Rock legend Sammy Hagar has heaped praise on rising star Yungblud, describing him as “Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury reincarnated” during a recent SiriusXM appearance. Hagar appeared on the September 16 edition of Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk to reflect on the July 5 charity event “Back To The Beginning” at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK, which marked what would be BLACK SABBATH and Ozzy Osbourne’s final live performance.
Hagar performed the 1981 Ozzy classic “Flying High Again” with a supergroup featuring EXTREME guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, LIVING COLOUR’s Vernon Reid, TOOL’s Adam Jones, bassist Rudy Sarzo, and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith. Afterward, Reid exited the stage as event music director Tom Morello joined the lineup for a rendition of “Rock Candy,” the 1973 hit from Hagar’s first band, MONTROSE.
Reflecting on the show, Hagar called the event “amazing” and highlighted several standout moments.
“There were quite a few magical moments, I’ve gotta tell you. And, of course, Ozzy‘s thing was magic — BLACK SABBATH, my god, that was just magic,” Hagar said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “But Yungblud, that dude is a bad, bad young boy. He is the man. That guy is gonna be the next big superstar, if he isn’t already. I mean, he’s frickin’ huge, but he’s Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury reincarnated. Man, this guy is just — he was so good. I was so blown away [by] his performance.
“And the other person that was really impressive in that whole thing was Nuno Bettencourt,” he continued. “Nuno Bettencourt played with almost everyone, and he killed it. Every song that he played, he brought it. Tom Morello played a lot of the stuff too, and Tom‘s good, but he’s a different kind of player. Tom‘s got his own really unique style to where Nuno, he adapted to everybody’s style. And, yeah, it was really good. And Billy Corgan from THE [SMASHING] PUMPKINS. Billy was great. I mean, when he did [JUDAS PRIEST‘s] ‘Breaking The Law’, it was so badass. [Laughs] I don’t know why, but it was really, really cool. It was a great event.”
Despite the high-powered performances around him, Hagar admitted he was disappointed in his own showing. “I was very disappointed in myself because I thought I learned ‘Flying High Again’,” he said. “I said, ‘I don’t [use a] teleprompter, I never use teleprompters.’ And I said, ‘I’m not gonna use a teleprompter.’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll put up there just in case.’ I said, ‘No, you watch this.’ I thought I had it memorized. I was distracted right before I go on by a bunch of people. I’m standing on the side of stage waiting for ’em to do the set change after the drum-off, and I’m going, ‘Oh, yeah.’ I’m talking to people. All of a sudden I hear ’em announce me, and I was 50 yards from the stage. And [my wife] Kari‘s going, ‘Oh, my God. They just announced you.’ And I’m going, ‘Oh, s**t.’ And I go running out. And I’m walking around. And they start the song, and I go, ‘Hey,’ blah, blah, blah. And then I step out on the ramp and I go, ‘Holy s**t.’ … I missed that whole thing.
“And I’m running back looking for the fricking teleprompter. And, of course, the lyrics are moving faster than I’m singing them. But I got it together after that. But, man, if you wanna talk about having your private parts shrink up in front that crowd, that opportunity. And I choked. Sammy Hagar is a pro. Man, he choked, that f**ker. So, anyway, then ‘Rock Candy’ was great. Well, that song [‘Flying High Again’] was great too, after we got it going. And the band came in backwards on the intro too, and so it was even crazier.”
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