Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne may have drawn a line in the sand when insisting that Back to the Beginning will be Black Sabbath's final ever show, but bass player Geezer Butler isn't towing the party line.
The Tom Morello–curated event, which brings together a litany of heavy metal greats across generations, from Metallica to Pantera, and Gojira, is the band’s second bow. The End tour wrapped in February 2017 in their hometown of Birmingham, U.K., but over the intervening years, multiple members expressed their desire to resurrect the group in some capacity.
After years of speculation, Back to the Beginning reunites the band’s classic lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, who was absent from their 2012 reunion, for the first time in 19 years.
Iommi, who has voiced his concerns about the ailing health of both Ozzy and Butler in the build-up to the show, has told MOJO, “I won’t be doing it again.” That comes in sharp contrast to his bass player’s comments.
Speaking in the same interview, Butler says he’s “given up talking about the end of Sabbath,” because, as history has already proved, the end has never been that.
“Every time I think or say it’s over, things like this show come along,” he reasons. “Someone will probably have our DNA and resurrect us in the distant future… Who knows?”
Ozzy is forced to play a limited role on the night due to his declining health. In February, he revealed that he would only be doing “bits and pieces” with a host of big-name vocalists set to fill his shoes for certain songs. Sammy Hagar has already confirmed which song he’ll be singing.
Indeed, health issues are a major talking point as the show draws ever closer. Jake E. Lee is set to feature in Ozzy’s solo set, coming as his final show in that guise too, after being forced to cancel his No More Tours II dates. Lee’s appearance comes 38 years after being dismissed from the Prince of Darkness’ band, but he may not be physically able to play his preferred song.
Despite Ozzy's penchant for retiring and un-retiring, the singer, in a separate MOJO interview, insists this is the end. Even if Butler thinks otherwise.
“After this show, I’m going home, closing the door, and will look back upon the great career I’ve had,” he insists. “But I’m done, done, done! You gotta know when to call it quits.”
Whether or not Back to the Beginning is Sabbath's swan song, Morello wants the show to be one for the history books.
“The idea of the show,” he tells Guitar Player. “Is to curate the greatest day in the history of heavy metal for the greatest band in the history of heavy metal.”
“Metal is the music that made me love music,” he adds. “It was the metal posters on my walls and the metal riffs that I learned first that made me love playing guitar and want to be a musician. It’s a debt that I owe.”
Iommi will be bringing down the curtain on a career that changed the course of heavy music forever, but one that saw him fighting with Black Sabbath's (1970) producer to keep their heavy sound.
The record may have also sounded very different if not for a “dodgy” car park guitar swap that saw him ditch the Fender Strat for his now fabled Gibson SG.
