“I just… It’s not in my nature to get nervous. What’s going to happen is going to happen. Worrying about it doesn’t do anything. But…”
Jake E. Lee revealed the guitarist who made him feel “really nervous” at the rehearsals for Black Sabbath’s final concert.
The show was a giant celebration of music, and making it happen was an incredible undertaking. To not get into the sheer logistics, the artists that were scheduled to perform had to prepare the material far ahead, and then they only had a short while to work on the songs in a live setting.
Such conditions could easily lead to a lot of pressure, but almost all of the musicians who performed were seasoned veterans. Their efforts obviously bore fruit, and fans were amazed by everything on display.
Jake E. Lee received a hero’s welcome from the crowd at “Back to the Beginning,” and he powered through “The Ultimate Sin” and “Shot In the Dark” with no trouble at all. But Lee had some trouble when he first arrived.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on his “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, Lee, who’d been having trouble playing because of arthritis and an incident in which he was shot three times, admitted that he became very nervous when he saw a particular guitarist playing. He said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“It was fun. It made it thrilling for me. But as I said, when I got there, I figured I’m still just, ‘Oh yeah, that’s Jake. He was in the band once.’ But, well, the first rehearsal – which was the night after I arrived – at the first rehearsal, I actually got nervous, which I never do. Obviously I do [laughs].”
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All jokes aside, Jake E. Lee noted that he really had trouble at that moment, listening to the famous musician rip up the stage. And who was this artist who caused Lee’s nervousness? None other than Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt:
“I just… It’s not in my nature to get nervous. What’s going to happen is going to happen. Worrying about it doesn’t do anything. But watching Nuno and the musicians rehearsing their songs while I was standing there waiting for my turn, I started to get really nervous, which was weird.”
However, Lee was saved by the unexpected appearance of Anthrax bassist Frank Bello, who had a few words of encouragement to share with Ozzy’s former guitarist. Lee remembered:
“Frank Bello was standing next to me, and he turns to me and he says, ‘I can’t wait to watch you.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m really nervous.’ And he’s like, ‘No, you’re Jake E. Lee. You could go up there and fart and we’d applaud.’ That made me feel okay.”
“Yeah. I was nervous, which, as I said, was a weird sensation for me. But once we started playing ‘The Ultimate Sin,’ it all kind of kicked in again, and it felt good.”
