Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi says he's comfortable with the way the iconic heavy metal band called it a career in 2017.
While there have been mutterings of a potential last, final ride (health permitting in 2022), Iommi told Eddie Trunk in a recent conversation that he has no regrets about the last Black Sabbath tour.
His enjoyment of performing live never waned, it was just what touring took out of him that was a problem. Iommi, a cancer survivor, says he really misses creating new music. If his longtime friend and former Sabbath frontman Ronnie James Dio were still alive, he thinks they would have resumed their creative partnership.
"I mean, with me, especially after the Ronnie thing, I mean, I really loved that period [the 2006-2010 Heaven & Hell band featuring Geezer Butler and Tony Appice] of when we got back with Dio, you know?" Iommi said.
He continued: "We were really cracking on with that band — it was a great band. And then we'd done the Sabbath thing with [Ozzy Osbourne], which was great, to finish up. But I think if Ronnie was alive, I'd probably be doing something with him now."
Iommi and Ozzy have both expressed misgivings about not pushing harder to have co-founding drummer Bill Ward included on the final tour. He repeated that he won't rule out more shows, but he did indicate that it's an unlikely prospect, given the size of Black Sabbath's operation.
Of the four Black Sabbath co-founders, Iommi is the only one to have not returned to the stage since the band's final shows. Ward has played a handful of shows with his band Day of Errors. Ozzy began his 'No More Tours 2' Farewell Tour in 2018. Butler started a new band called Deadland Ritual with ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum and longtime Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens.
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