Scott Holiday

Rival Sons, Sabbath’s 2026-17 tour openers, return to the scene of the crime

- — Andrew Daly

IF YOU CAUGHT Black Sabbath’s The End tour, which lasted from 2016 to 2017 and spanned 81 shows over six legs, there’s a good chance you caught Rival Sons opening for them. But even if you didn't, that tour remains a significant pride point for Rival Sons' fuzz-laden guitarist, Scott Holiday — and it’s why Rival Sons are a part of Back to the Beginning. “I got to see a lot,” Holiday says about his time on the road with his heroes. “It's rare that you get to spend that much time with a band that has been that legendary for that long. It was a heavy feeling to think you could be that deep into your career and be so totally focused on delivering those old songs. It was really inspiring. It was an energy.”

Rival Sons were the openers for Black Sabbath during their final tour. Is that why you got the call for Back to the Beginning? We were on tour with Sabbath for 13 months and were actually the only opener for their last official tour. Right after we finished that tour, we presented them with their Grammy Lifetime Achievement [award], where we played some Sabbath songs, spoke in front of everybody and did that whole thing with them, too. So we've been friends with them, and when they reached out, of course, we were obliged and wanted to be a part of it.

What did you learn from sharing the stage with Sabbath?

I watched Tony a lot. We became friends, which was amazing. It was emotional for me. Not in a “Pinch me!” sense, but just realizing how on-point he was and how much he was not phoning in that performance. I felt moved by it, like, “Wow... he's really keyed-in every night. He's really focused, dedicated and still totally there.”

Was being on the road with Sabbath as wild as it's made out to be?

Was Ozzy as wild as he was made out to be back then?