Lzzy Hale

How Halestorm wound up playing Ronnie James Dio's final show

- Andrew Daly

LIKE SO MANY of the bands that were offered a spot on the Back to the Beginning bill, Halestorm came back with an instant "yes." Well - not that instant.

"We got an email from Sharon Osbourne," says Halestorm guitarist Lzzy Hale.

"When the email came in, I didn't answer it for two days because I was like, 'What the hell is going on? Are we meant to have this email?' It was very hush-hush; no one was talking about it or knew anything about it. It was such a crazy feeling when it was confirmed that we were being asked to play at this monumental event."

How important was Sabbath in terms of your musical development?

When I was a kid, my ABCs of rock 'n' roll were Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Cinderella and Dio. The first riff I ever learned was "Heaven and Hell," so you can imagine that my inner-child was screaming at the top of her lungs, "I'd walk on broken glass to get there! I want to play this show!"

Have you ever met Tony and the rest of the band?

Yes! It was in 2009 - a fluke accident.

Heaven & Hell had just released The Devil You Know, which was Sabbath and Dio, and they were playing in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The boys and I had just gotten off tour and were on our way home. We got a call from our booking agent saying, "Heaven & Hell's opener dropped out for their last show. Do you want to open for them?" We were like, "Oh, my god, yes!" We opened for them and got to know Ronnie James Dio, Geezer and Tony. They made us feel like family. They hung out with us until about three in the morning. A couple of months later, Ronnie was diagnosed with cancer.

That ended up being the last show Dio ever performed [August 29, 2009].