By all accounts, Black Sabbath’s 2025 Back to the Beginning set was a triumph, as the iconic metal group said goodbye with one final performance. Still, there’s one thing that bothered guitarist Tony Iommi.
During the concert, frontman Ozzy Osbourne performed while seated on a throne, a necessity considering his deteriorating health at the time. In a recent conversation with Kerrang!, Iommi admitted the setup presented an unexpected problem: he couldn’t see Ozzy during the show.
“Normally I’m used to him running around and coming up, pulling faces and all the rest of the stuff, having a laugh,” Iommi explained, “and so that was a difficult thing for me because I couldn’t really see him.”
The issue put a damper on what was otherwise a celebratory night.
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“I think it felt hard and felt sad, really, because I wanted to see Ozz,” Iommi admitted. “But not being able to see him, it didn’t make it like it was. You know what I mean? Because he was always running around and come over and talk and say something, but he’s stuck in a seat and couldn’t get up.”
Tony Iommi Admits Black Sabbath Felt ‘Pressure’ at Back to the Beginning
Despite his struggles with the setup, Iommi said he was “very glad” that Sabbath reunited for Back to the Beginning.
“It was great that we could do it with the original line-up. It really was,” he remarked. I was so, so conscious of trying to be the best we could be. So, it was a pressure for us because we hadn’t played together for so long with Bill [Ward] in particular, because that’s the backbone of the thing. If he goes wrong, we all go wrong. But no, it was great that we did it. I’m really glad we did it.”
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As for Osbourne, Iommi noted it was difficult to see the singer struggling with his health. Still, the performance was important to Ozzy, and pulling it off flet like a win for everyone.
“He did it, and he was really happy that he managed it,” Iommi recalled. “I spoke to him a day after, and he was really pleased that he did it and got over it.”
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From Ozzy to Dio and beyond, we look at all of the band’s studio LPs.
Gallery Credit: Eduardo Rivadavia
