Robert Plant has revealed why he recently turned down an invitation from Tony Iommi to attend Black Sabbath's farewell concert

He told Mojo: "I said, Tony, I'd love to come, but I can't come.

"I just can't. I'm not saying that I'd rather hang out with Peter Gabriel or Youssou N'Dour, but I don't know anything about what's going on in that world now, at all. I don't decry it, I've got nothing against it. It's just I found these other places that are so rich."

The show, held on 5 July, drew roughly 40,000 attendees in person, with another estimated five million watching via livestream.

Robert added: "For me, because I've been from a very questionable Live Aid to the O2, to Obama and the White House and all those things, I was beatified.

"I felt the tug of doing this - Saving Grace needed just to move on up in glory, as Mavis (Staples) would say. We've got to be very careful now that we make sure it stays closer to Bert Jansch than Axl Rose.

"The gigs are small enough so that if nobody wants to go, it's not the end of the world. And so, by having that laissez-faire, easy-going, whatever it's called - suicidal! - attitude, instead of doing the football stadium with some old mates, there it was: we were free. We could mess about."

Back to the Beginning served as a farewell for Black Sabbath and featured appearances from contemporaries including Mastodon, Rival Sons, Anthrax, Halestorm, Pantera, Tool, Slayer, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God and Yungblud.

Just over two weeks after the performance, Ozzy, 76, died on 22 July.

His cause of death was later listed as "out of hospital cardiac arrest" and "acute myocardial infarction," with coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease with autonomic dysfunction noted as joint causes. "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy.

One of the last known interactions between Ozzy and Robert reportedly occurred in 2016, when the Black Sabbath singer accidentally texted his fellow rocker about a missing cat.

Ozzy said on Conan O'Brien's show: "I once accidentally sent Robert Plant a text message being like, 'I can't find the cat'."

Robert responded concerned but bewildered, asking: "You can't find the cat?"