American rockers RIVAL SONS were tapped as the sole opening act for BLACK SABBATH's farewell tour which eventually concluded in February 2017. According to frontman Jay Buchanan, the tour gave RIVAL SONS their proper introduction into big-league arena touring, and gave them the confidence they could handle crowds of a similar size on their own. In a recent interview with "The Art And Span Show", Buchanan shared how RIVAL SONS came into contact with SABBATH, and how the legendary act took them "under their wing." "We had played an awards ceremony out in Los Angeles where we were being honored for something," he said. "It just so happened that Ozzy and Sharon [Osbourne were] there, along with a long list of living legends. We played a couple of songs and really burned it down. After that set, we were out in the press tent area doing interviews and different things, and we passed by Ozzy Osbourne. He and Sharon just start talking to us and they're loving it. A couple of days later, they contact our management. They say, 'You guys need to make it down to Brazil for Monsters Of Rock.' I think they were getting a litmus test to see how we did playing in front of 100,000 people, how we handled a big stage. We did that. Then they asked us to be the sole opening act for SABBATH's final tour. That tour lasted over a year." He continued: "What they effectively did is they gave us the opportunity to receive an education that you can't get any other way: 'Hey, we'll give you our arena for 45 minutes every night. There you go. Go learn how to be an arena band.' And they did that for over a year. That is real. That is a real leg up. That's what you read about in the books for other bands getting a leg up from another legend. They gave us that opportunity and it absolutely gave us that taste of blood. After that tour, we decided we will never eat at the kids' table again. We're going to do this for real now." This fall, RIVAL SONS will embark on a co-headlining U.S. tour alongside STONE TEMPLE PILOTS. Produced by Live Nation, the 12-city outing will kick off September 13 in Baltimore and see the two bands performing on intimate stages across the states, including The Met Philadelphia, Ford Amphitheater in New York City, The Fillmore New Orleans and more, before wrapping October 9 in San Diego. Dates in Norfolk, Pittsburgh and Cleveland have been recently added. The band's most recent studio album, "Feral Roots", was released this January by Low Country Sound/Elektra. RIVAL SONS are: Buchanan, Scott Holiday (guitar), Dave Beste (bass guitar) and Mike Miley (drums).
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