Tony Iommi shares anxieties ahead of Black Sabbath farewell show: “The worrying thing for me is the unknown”
Tony Iommi has revealed his fears ahead of Black Sabbath’s final farewell gig in Birmingham, confessing that “the worrying thing for me is the unknown.”
The guitarist was speaking to Music Week ahead of the show, in which he noted: “This would be a big, monumental thing if it all comes good,” but that he had trepidations as “The worrying thing for me is the unknown. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Iommi expanded on this statement by explaining: “Normally, when we’d tour, we’d rehearse and run through the thing for a while, and it’s just us. But with this event there are so many other moving parts.”
Another factor within this is the increasing frailty of frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who now struggles to move and perform as a result of having Parkinson’s disease.
Regarding this, his bandmate added: “You’re used to Ozzy running around, but he certainly won’t be doing that for this show. I don’t know if he’s going to be standing or sitting on a throne or what.”
It comes as the latest in an increasingly loud series of doubts cast over the gig, set to take place on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham, as Osbourne himself recently said in an interview: “All I can say is I’m giving 120 per cent. If my God wants me to do the show, I’ll do it.”
Elsewhere, the band’s manager and Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, has stirred up more drama by axing an as-yet unknown band from the bill of the gig, due to their manager “making up bullshit lies.”
Due to demand for the concert, a pay-per-view livestream is being made available to purchase for £24.99.
It still remains to be seen exactly what Osbourne’s role will entail at the show. Last month, Sammy Hagar claimed that the Black Sabbath singer will only perform five songs during the performance, sharing, I chose to do ‘No More Tears’ (during his set at Villa Park) and Tom (Morello) goes, ‘Oh, that would be great’. And then he comes back and says, ‘Guess what? Ozzy’s going to try and sing five songs and he wants to sing ‘No More Tears’.”
Osbourne is also taking on a training regime to get him match fit to participate in the concert. During a recent episode of his Ozzy Speaks show on SiriusXM, he told co-host Billy Morrison: “Well, I mean heavy training for this Aston Villa thing that’s coming up. I haven’t done anything for, this will be seven years, and so I’ve been through all this surgery. It really is like starting from scratch.”
When asked to discuss his training in more detail, Osbourne added, “Well, it’s endurance training. The first thing to go when you’re laid up is your stamina, so believe it or so, I’m doing two sets of three-minute walks and weight training. I’m going and going you know.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.