Tony Iommi reflected on the emotional challenges before Black Sabbath’s final reunion at the 2026 “Back To The Beginning” charity concert, telling Louder Sound. He revealed that he was initially hesitant to perform due to drummer Bill Ward’s rehearsal struggles and Ozzy Osbourne’s rapidly declining health.
Iommi explained his first thoughts when the band considered the reunion. He was concerned about whether the members should actually perform, and worried about the toll it might take on Osbourne in particular.
“I said to Ozzy: ‘I don’t think we should do it.’ I said: ‘We should just let the other bands play our stuff, and us come out at the end and say thank you. But it was for a good charitable cause, and eventually we said okay,'” Iommi said.
The guitarist found it difficult to see his bandmate’s condition. “I hadn’t seen Ozzy for a bit, and it was difficult seeing him like that. Fucking hell…” he continued.
“I was concerned he was going to blow himself out, and by the time we came on he’d be struggling,” Iommi added.
Rehearsals presented their own set of problems. Ward had not played with the band for two decades and needed time to relearn the material. The band wanted to perform “Black Sabbath” but found it too demanding for the drummer. Despite this, Osbourne showed remarkable commitment to the reunion.
“We needed to rehearse with Bill, because it had been twenty years and he couldn’t remember how to play some of his stuff. We wanted to do the song Black Sabbath on the night but it was too difficult for him. But Ozzy would arrive with this gang of people carrying him up and down. We’d say: ‘Oz, you don’t have to be here today, go home.’ I was concerned about his voice. But he wanted to be there. There was no stopping him,” Iommi said.
Despite his initial reservations, the performance went ahead. The energy of the moment carried Osbourne through the show, and Iommi expressed relief and gratitude that they went through with it.
“The adrenaline carried Ozzy through. And I’m so glad we did it. But of course we didn’t expect him to go so soon,” he said.
Iommi’s comments came as he reflected on the band’s final reunion at the charity concert, which marked Black Sabbath’s last performance together.
The four original members—Osbourne, Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and Ward—performed together live for the first time since 2005 on July 5, 2025. Ward had not appeared with Black Sabbath since 2005, having left the band in 2012 following a contract dispute. This prevented him from participating in the band’s 2013 reunion album or the tour that followed. The path to the reunion came after Osbourne spoke on his podcast about the band’s story being “unfinished” and expressed willingness to perform one final time with Ward.
Osbourne was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, which affected his ability to perform on stage. At the Birmingham concert, doctors had warned him about heart and artery issues before the show, but he refused to stop. He was seated for the performance and recovering from several spinal surgeries. On July 22, 2025, Osbourne died of a heart attack, just 17 days after the concert. According to his death certificate, he was battling both coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease.
The Back To The Beginning concert took place on July 5, 2025, at Villa Park in Birmingham and attracted 42,000 people in person, with three million more watching globally through pay-per-view livestream. All participating artists, including Metallica, Slayer, and Pantera, performed for free. The concert raised £140 million for Acorns Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Cure Parkinson’s, making it the highest-grossing charity concert of all time.
The concert has now been made into a theatrical film, with Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy’s wife and manager, discussing the project with the BBC. The film documents Osbourne’s historic final farewell performance in his Birmingham hometown, captured just 17 days before his death. The release began on October 28, 2026, in cinemas worldwide.
