Tony Iommi has looked back on his Back to the Beginning experience, admitting he was shocked to see the state Ozzy Osbourne was in when they met for rehearsals.
Iommi reunited with his original Black Sabbath bandmates one final time last summer for Ozzy’s farewell gig. 17 days after the show took place, the Prince of Darkness passed away at the age of 76.
Osbourne’s final bow onstage was a triumphant one. But behind the scenes, Iommi found it tough. His struggles worsened when Ozzy flew into town for rehearsals.
“Difficult,” Iommi says in the new issue of Guitar World when asked how he found the show. “Initially, when it was mentioned to me, I said no, because we’d done The End Tour [2016 to 2017] and I didn’t want to be like, ‘Here we are again, another tour.’
“But when it was mentioned about it being for charity, then yes, I was into it. Still, I thought, ‘What’s it going to be like? We haven’t played with Bill [Ward, drummer] for years.’
“And when we got into rehearsal, I hadn’t seen Ozzy since we’d done the Commonwealth Games in 2022. That was the last time I’d seen him, because he was in the States and he couldn’t get over because of his health situation; they wouldn’t let him fly.
“Eventually, when he came over, and we met for rehearsals, we were floored, because he was carried in, basically. I couldn't believe how he’d deteriorated.”
Iommi was so stunned by Ozzy’s condition that he offered to do the whole set instrumentally. Ozzy could be there, but he didn’t have to push himself too hard. But the Prince of Darkness wasn’t to be deterred.
“We were all in shock, really,” Iommi continues. “He sat there, and I said to him, ‘You know, you don’t have to sing, we’ll just run through it instrumentally,’ but he said ‘No, I’ll have a go’ and he’d sing for a bit.
“And then we’d finish for the day and I said, ‘Don’t bother to come in tomorrow, we’ll just run over the songs instrumentally with Bill.’ He said, ‘All right,’ and then he might turn up the next day – or not.”
The show itself was also a rather difficult experience for Iommi. He couldn’t see Ozzy, who was positioned in a chair at the front of the stage.
Iommi was needed at the back, to help keep drummer Bill Ward in check. When he did get a glimpse of Ozzy on stage, it was sobering.
“It was very difficult, because I was so used to Ozzy jumping around and running up to me and grabbing me,” he remembers. “It was just a terribly different thing altogether, and it was very hard to do it.
“But, you know, I’m glad we did it, because it was the original band and we won’t be doing it again. I’m really glad we did it for Ozzy and for the fans.”
Iommi’s full interview can be found in the new issue of Guitar World, which includes features with Zakk Wylde and Stanley Jordan. Copies can be found at Magazines Direct.
