“I don’t know what will happen. Usually when we make tours we have a plan and we know what will happen. Not this time ». Tony Iommi says so in the interview that appeared today on Once !g! Ai Black Sabbath, or rather to the guitarist, to Geezer Butler and Sharon Osbourne, in view of the last concert of both the band and Ozzy Osbourne to be held on Saturday 5 July at the Villa Park of their Birmingham.
“I ordered three pairs of reinforced underwear,” he joke Butler in the interview. “I hope everything goes well that evening. We can try, but making a real concert is another thing. I just pray that the monitors are well regulated, that nervousness does not care and not to start thinking too much. When we climb on stage in front of the 50 thousand in Villa Park, and above all with the concert broadcast live in the world, I will return to being a believer and pray that everything goes as expected ».
Back to the Beginning, as the event is called, will not only be an performance of the Black Sabbath, but a day of music with big rock, coordinated by Tom Morello, who will go on stage to pay homage to the most influential band in the history of metal. Among the names, metallic, Guns n ‘Roses, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, Billy Corgan, David Draiman, Fred Durst, Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar, Zakk Wylde. The unknown is Ozzy. Suffering from Parkinson’s and other health problems, he will not be able to make an entire concert. The ladder was not decided. Iommi says that it is not yet decided, but that “they could be five or six songs” those that the Sabbaths will do with Ozzy. Certainly, says the singer’s wife, the event “gave him a reason to get up in the morning. Instead of saying “I would like, but I can’t”, now he has a reason to get up every day, make physiotherapy and seek to get back on sixth “.
Iommi and Butler explain that they were not enthusiastic about the idea proposed by Sharon, since they had already done a farewell tour, but they decided that it was the right thing a bit because it is an opportunity to put together the original formation with Bill Ward and a little because it is also a matter of doing charity (Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, ACom Children’s Hospice).
“We don’t play with this formation, with Bill, for twenty years, it is fantastic to find yourself in the rehearsal room and play all together,” says the guitarist. «But it is strange to go from scratch to such stage after so long. Most of the other bands playing are in business and on tour. Instead, we pass directly from the rehearsal room to that stage. It will be a challenge ». But, as Sharon in Ozzy said, “there is no pressure, it just has to have fun. Nobody will say, “That piece suck” or “why didn’t they sing that other song?”. We will all be there for a celebration ».
