Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler shared with Appetite for Distortion why he is done with touring and why he thinks Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger can still be on the road and do stadium shows. He said that doing it leisurely and in their terms might be the key by saying:
“Well, they do it so leisurely it’s almost like not being on the road. They do like these massive stadiums. I saw them in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, and Mick Jagger is like a 14-year-old kid. He was incredible, and if you can do it, then great, do it, but when they do like one gig a week, I think in these massive stadiums, and they’ve got their own plane and everything like that, so they’ll take it easy and do it leisurely.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Butler compared the days of Black Sabbath, when they had their own private plane, stayed in luxury hotels, and performed in big venues, with the days when he had to start from scratch with his supergroup Deadland Ritual. So, just before the pandemic, he decided to retire and leave his touring days behind.
So, when he was asked during the interview whether he would work on a new album or go on tour again, Geezer revealed that without the luxuries of the early days of Black Sabbath and keeping in mind his age, he would much rather stick to writing by adding:
“I’m still writing stuff, but I’ve got no plans of making albums or going on tour or anything because, I mean, I was in a band, and you have to have the rest of the band willing to do everything as well, so and none of us are young anymore. I mean, Tony [Iommi] is 75, I’m going to be 74 next month, and it’s quite a young man’s game, really touring. It’s okay to write albums and stuff like that; you can do it leisurely in your own time, but going on tour takes a lot out of you.”
You can listen to Geezer Butler’s interview with Appetite for Distortion below.
