Watch: GUNS N' ROSES Covers Four BLACK SABBATH Songs At 'Back To The Beginning'

GUNS N' ROSES paid tribute to BLACK SABBATH by performing cover versions of four of the heavy metal legends' songs at Saturday's (July 5) "Back To The Beginning" event in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The Axl Rose-fronted outfit kicked off the set by playing "It's Alright" from SABBATH's 1976 album "Technical Ecstasy" before launching into the title track of 1978's "Never Say Die!" and "Junior's Eyes" from the same album. GUNS N' ROSES ended its SABBATH tribute with a version of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". The band then played two of its own songs, "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Paradise City".

GUNS N' ROSES' setlist was as follows:

01. It's Alright (BLACK SABBATH cover)
02. Never Say Die (BLACK SABBATH cover)
03. Junior's Eyes (BLACK SABBATH cover)
04. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (BLACK SABBATH cover)
05. Welcome To The Jungle
06. Paradise City

Last month, GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan released a video on his YouTube channel in which he spoke about his participation in the "Back To The Beginning" charity event. The concert marked the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH's last-ever performance and Ozzy Osbourne's final appearance as a solo artist. Asked what Ozzy means to him, Duff said:  "Well, that's a pretty big question. Ozzy's been a constant — I mean, since I was, I'm gonna say, about six years old, because when I was a little kid, FM radio started and I had all these older siblings. And we had a stereo in the living room of our house, and they would play FM radio. And what FM radio did then was play a whole side of a record, and it was rock — rock and roll music. So it'd be [Jimi] Hendrix and whatever. And I remember hearing [BLACK SABBATH's] 'Iron Man' for the first time, whatever year that was, and however old I was — young — thinking 'Iron Man' was, 'Wow.' It was like a cartoon thing. And 'What is this song?' And was kind of accessible for me. And a few years later when I started playing guitar, I could figure that song out. And SABBATH and Ozzy just remained a constant."

Duff continued: "I love the 'Never Say Die!' record, which is '78. Some people kind of passed over that stuff. And SABBATH going with [Ronnie James] Dio was a really cool period. And Ozzy going on his own and doing his thing was… He became an icon, I think, when he went solo, whatever that means. But there's certain… Iggy [Pop], Lemmy, Ozzy, Prince — there was these constants in rock and roll, and Ozzy remains that."

More than five years ago, Duff helped write and record Ozzy's "Ordinary Man" album over a four-day period. The GUNS N' ROSES bassist collaborated with RED HOT CHILL PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith and guitarist-producer Andrew Watt on the songs, including "Straight To Hell", "Under The Graveyard" and the title track, a duet between Ozzy and Elton John.

"This guy Andrew Watt called," McKagan told the "Jonesy's Jukebox" radio show. "He said, 'Do you have some days this week in the daytime? I need to write an Ozzy record. We have four days to do it.' So we showed up at Andrew's studio. Everything was kind of set up — Chad's drum kit was set up — and it was basically one of those things: 'Who's got a riff?' It was really inspired. … The three of us — Andrew Watt and Chad and myself — we'd never written together, and you know that can go sideways in a hot second. But it didn't.

"Ozzy came, and Ozzy just loved it," McKagan added. "He just came in and started writing words and laid down the vocals. And it was kind of like that. There was definitely urgency to the whole situation. We had so much time to do it, which was only four days. … I think the record is really, really good."

More than 40,000 fans attended "Back To The Beginning", which also saw performances from METALLICA, SLAYER, PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD and ANTHRAX, among others. Profits from the show will be shared equally between the charities Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice.

The all-day event at Villa Park, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa, and featured a supergroup of musicians.

A livestream of the daylong event was announced in June. While it was called a livestream, the video was delayed two hours from the in-arena start time.

Broadcast live from Birmingham, United Kingdom's Villa Park, those who missed out on being there can still experience this unforgettable moment, with the chance to rewatch the concert in its entirety for another 48 hours.

For more information, visit www.backtothebeginning.com.