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Tony Iommi Recalls Black Sabbath’s Final Show, Ozzy Solo Performance, and Rehearsed but Unplayed Tracks
Black Sabbath legend guitarist Tony Iommi has reflected on the band’s final performance, and there were a few fresh insights into the emotional anguish of the night, worries about frontman Ozzy Osbourne splitting away to perform a solo set, and a couple of surprises around rehearsed but unplayed tracks.
The final Black Sabbath show was on February 4, 2017, in their home town of Birmingham, England, bringing down the curtain on the heavy metal legends’ career. The show was a triumphant but nostalgic farewell, with the band delivering an unrelenting set of their best known work. But behind the scenes, there was tension, fatigue, and concern, particularly in Iommi, who was worried about how the farewell tour was affecting Ozzy.
Spoken during a recent interview, Iommi was filled with praise for Ozzy’s vitality but admitted he was doubtful of the frontman taking the stage for his own solo performance after the band had played. “With him having his own set – something that I didn’t think that he should have done – I didn’t want him to burn out,” Iommi said. “It’s hard enough playing a Sabbath show, let alone putting extra on top of that. I was concerned for his health.”
The “The End” farewell tour had a demanding schedule that took its toll on the members as well. Iommi, battling cancer, and drummer Tommy Clufetos (who substituted for original drummer Bill Ward) all endured the physical demands of each day’s performances. For Iommi, besides the pressure of knowing it was the final hurrah for the band—only a test of emotion and endurance.
“Ozzy was great, but he was knackered, and so were we,” continued Iommi. “But he wanted to finish on a high, and he did. But I just felt it was a bit more than he could cope with, doing the Sabbath set and then his own. We all wanted it to be special, and it was. But I think some of us were hanging on a bit more than others.”
And when the curtain fell on virtually a half-century of musical history, the band played a set packed with classics like “War Pigs,” “Paranoid,” and “Iron Man.” But Iommi dropped the hint that there were some songs they worked up during rehearsal that did not make the final night’s cut.
We played some stuff that we didn’t actually play,” he said. “We rehearsed ‘Changes,’ and we thought about playing ‘Sweet Leaf’ and ‘Symptom of the Universe,’ but ultimately we stuck to the ones that we knew that the fans were particularly wanting to hear. You can’t play everything, and we had to look out for the flow and energy of the concert.
Omitting certain of the songs was not a decision that came easily, especially in light of the evening’s emotional investment. “There were tunes that we cherish and fans adore, but it just didn’t fit the dynamic of the show. It’s always a balancing act between what you wish to perform and what is going to work best in the moment,” Iommi clarified.
Despite the intensity of the final tour, Iommi doesn’t rule out future collaborations. While Black Sabbath as a touring entity is over, he remains musically active and open to the idea of working with his former bandmates again in some form. “We’ve all gone our own ways musically, but there’s a bond there that never breaks. If something comes up that makes sense for all of us, who knows?”
Regarding the last show, Iommi acknowledges that it was an extremely emotional experience. “Walking off that stage, knowing it was the final time—it hit me hard. But I was also proud. We went out on our terms, in our hometown, with our legacy intact.”
Black Sabbath may have closed the book on live performances, but their influence continues to echo through the generations—and thanks to Iommi’s candid reflections, fans now have an even deeper understanding of what went on behind the scenes during the final chapter of metal’s founding fathers.
