Ozzy Osbourne says he would resurrect Black Sabbath in order to perform at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
The 2022 games would be in Black Sabbath's hometown of Birmingham, England. Ozzy was asked if he would consider performing at the games. His No More Tours 2 farewell tour ends in 2020.
"Yeah, that would be fantastic, wouldn't it!" he told the ITV News. "With Black Sabbath or with [my solo band]."
The Prince of Darkness emphasized that he's not retiring from music; he's just not making large-scale touring plans again. He marveled at the longevity of his career.
"We we were doing them early albums, I thought, 'This'll be all right for a couple of years.' Fifty years on I'm still doing it."
The Commonwealth games are an international multi-sport event that includes athletes from nations that were formerly territories of the British Empire.
Black Sabbath capped off its career with a concert in February 2017. Still, Ozzy and his Black Sabbath bandmates have been reluctant to declare a definitive end to their career together.
Guitarist Tony Iommi has cited health reasons as to why he will no longer tour. But he said last September that he would consider an encore on the band's career.
"Who knows?" he told Express at the time. "We might at some point do one-off shows. There's nothing planned at all."
Bassist Geezer Butler has been adamant about wanting to continue to record and perform, but says he's not holding his breath for more Black Sabbath.
"[It's] not very likely at all," he told Full Metal Jackie this past winter. "I think [Ozzy] is going out on his farewell tour, so that will be him touring for the next two or three years. So I don't think there will be any chance of doing any one-offs or anything like that—which I'm fine with. We went out on a high, and it's best not to drag it out."
Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, and underwent treatment during sessions for the band's swan song album, 13, and the subsequent tours. His fight against cancer sapped his energy, Iommi says, and while the disease has been in remission for the past few years, the guitarist's doctors have told him to expect it to return.
“The only criterion is that [more concerts] cannot involve being away for seven or eight weeks at a time, unless it’s in one place,” Iommi said a few weeks after Black Sabbath's last show.
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