Tony Iommi Confused by Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Bad Vibes’ Tour Comment
Tony Iommi responded to Ozzy Osbourne’s claim that he hadn’t enjoyed Black Sabbath’s final tour by saying that the singer’s comments didn’t match what happened on the road.
The band split after a hometown farewell concert last year, which followed The End world tour. Earlier this month, Osbourne said he “didn’t have a great time” over their final years together, adding that he “was getting bad vibes from them for being Ozzy.”
“I saw that but I don’t know what he meant,” Iommi told the List in a new interview. “I had a great time on the last tour playing with the guys, and Ozzy never mentioned anything to me. He seemed to enjoy it and we had a laugh, so I don’t know. … I think possibly that quote was taken out of context.”
The guitarist previously said that one of the main reasons for ending his touring career was the toll taken by travelling between shows. “It takes it out of your body,” he explained in the new interview. “Even though we traveled with our own plane, great hotels, you still get tired and get to bed at four or five in the morning, but I still love being on stage, I love playing and I love seeing the fans.”
He said that he's started work on remixing 1996 Sabbath album Forbidden, which features singer Tony Martin, drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Neil Murray, and is often regarded as the band’s worst LP. “That's an album I've never been satisfied with, so I'm about to start pulling that apart and remix it,” Iommi said.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed by Osbourne against concert promoters AEG was withdrawn after the company dropped the block-booking requirement that caused the dispute. Osbourne had challenged AEG’s right to force him to play the Staples Center in Los Angeles if he wanted to book the O2 Arena in London. The promoters had said the requirement was their response to a similar requirement made by competitors Live Nation, and that it was entirely legal.
On understanding that Live Nation no longer operated their requirement, AEG dropped its lawsuit too. Reporting that Osbourne was “pleased” with the outcome, his attorney Dan Wall told Billboard that “there is nothing left to litigate.”