In recent interviews Black Sabbath members Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne have separately commented on their desire to perform one more final Black Sabbath reunion show.
However, unlike the band’s ‘final reunion’ performance in 2017 which didn’t include founding drummer Bill Ward due to ‘contract disputes’ among other reasons, Osbourne and Iommi have specifically mentioned their interest in performing one last show with Ward and the entirety of the band’s original lineup.
In a recent interview with Billy Morrison Osbourne was asked if he felt satisfied with how Black Sabbath ended, to which he responded, “No.
Because it wasn’t Black Sabbath that finished it. It’s unfinished. If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance.
Do you know what would be cool? If we went to a club or something unannounced and we just got up and did it. We started up in a club. I was sad that Bill wasn’t there. I mean Tommy Clufetos, my drummer, did a great job. But he ain’t Bill Ward.”
While Black Sabbath’s final touring days did include original members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, drummer Tommy Clufetos (who also performs with Osbourne’s solo band) sat in for Black Sabbath’s final shows.
Following Osbourne’s comments, guitarist Tony Iommi was also asked in a recent interview with Eddie Trunk whether or not he’d be interested in a final reunion show.
“It’d be a nice idea, but you know, you’re gonna get everybody going, ‘Oh, they’re doing it for the money, they’re doing it for this, they’re doing it for that.’ Iommi stated.
“Well, it wouldn’t be, I mean, it’d be something that… it’d be a nice thing to actually do, but whether it happens will be another thing. But we’ll see. I mean, who knows?”
All this news comes as quite a shock given the rather feud-like history between Ward and the band during Black Sabbath’s final tour days.
Ward has been quite understandably upset by his lack of inclusion in the band’s final reunion performances, provided he’s a key pillars to the band’s overwhelming success from all of these years and is one of heavy metal’s most formidable drummers.
However, seeing that there’s a renewed interest for Black Sabbath to properly reunite, and that Ward himself no longer holds resentment towards his former bandmates, there could be a window of opportunity for the heavy metal legends to properly reunite and perform one last show.
With Osbourne’s health continuing to decline, Sharon Osbourne has hinted that he still plans to perform a couple final shows in his home town of Birmingham, England, which is also the hometown of Black Sabbath.
This could be the perfect and only opportunity for the band to reunite and tie the not on Black Sabbath’s legacy, but time will tell if it’s even a possibility.
