Soundgarden Issue Statement Regarding Absence from Final Black Sabbath Concert

The surviving members of Soundgarden were among those slated to perform during Black Sabbath’s historic Back to the Beginning concert, but they were noticeably absent from the festivities on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.

The grunge legends have now issued a social media statement regarding their absence, explaining that scheduling conflicts prevented them from taking the stage that day.

Via the remaining band members’ Nudedragons Instagram account, the statement read:

“Congratulations to Black Sabbath on the grand and final pealing of their vesper bells!

Thank you for an astounding career that provided us and your legion of fans with a lifetime of beauty, horror, love, power, happiness, melancholy and a profoundly sublime, yet viscerally rocking transcendence informed by both doom and hope. Your majestic brilliance has inspired greatness in scores of other bands, musicians and songwriters. However, the crown will forever remain yours!

We are very grateful to Tony, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, as well as Sharon Osbourne and music director, Tom Morello for the honor and invitation to Soundgarden to perform at the Back to the Beginning festival! We are super bummed and regret that we were unable to coordinate the schedules of our individual and collective projects to attend and contribute to the festival. The warmth, love and support from the Black Sabbath team has been a continuing source of encouragement and strength throughout our career.”

The post also included a photo of the late Chris Cornell and his bandmates meeting Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi at the Download Festival in 2012.

Prior to the concert, Sharon Osbourne reported that she booted an unnamed band from the “Back to the Beginning” lineup. After the show, some fans had speculated that it may have been the Soundgarden members, although this statement appears to suggest otherwise.

Check out the social media post and statement from the remaining members of Soundgarden below.