Black Sabbath called it a career back in 2017 performing their final concert in their home city of Birmingham. As of a decade ago, Black Sabbath sold more than 70 million records worldwide, making them one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands and what many consider the inventors of the genre.
It was thought the band was through, but guitarist Tony Iommi admitted to SiriusXM’s Eddie Trunk that there had been talk of the band reforming to play at some point, notably this year’s Power Trip festival which is scheduled to feature AC/DC, Ozzy performing solo, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Guns ’N’ Roses and Tool.
“Yes, there was [talk],” Iommi said. “But I didn’t [follow through], at that point… It’s hard, because Ozzy’s been going through a lot of stuff lately. He’s in hospital and out of hospital, and he’s really been fighting it; he really wants to get out there. But in my mind, it’s very difficult to sort of say yes. I’ve gotta think of the people in the band as well. I’ve gotta think of Ozzy, if he’s gonna be all right to do a show and whatever. So I wasn’t that comfortable with it.”
Iommi then added with a laugh, “But I didn’t know Ozzy [chuckles] would be doing it on his own. But it’s great. I hope he can do it and that it’ll be really good. He really wants to do it. And he’s really trying to pull to get himself back. He’s had to go through such a lot of hard stuff lately. It’s such a shame, really. But he’s still fighting there.”
“We hadn’t approached the others as far as doing it,” Iommi continued, explaining how far the discussions of performing again went with the rest of the band. “They might have said no. But it didn’t get much further than me, really. But, yeah, that’s the way it is.”
“If you’re gonna go out, I want to do a good show. I want to go out on the top and do it. I don’t wanna just go and slap something together. And I’m not saying it would have been, but it could have been difficult.”
Iommi then said he’s not opposed to Black Sabbath doing one-off shows at some point, but that it would have to happen under the right circumstances.
“To do a full show, you’ve gotta make sure everybody’s in good shape because people are gonna remember you by that show. And I don’t want our reputation to go downhill all of a sudden. If something goes wrong or somebody can’t make it and we have to cancel… ‘Cause I don’t know everybody’s health; I don’t know how Bill’s [Ward] feeling these days. You just don’t know. So I’d like to be sure. If you’re gonna do anything, it’s gotta be good or [you should] not bother.”
