BLACK SABBATH's TONY IOMMI And BILL WARD Reunite At 'International Day Of Birmingham' Reception

BLACK SABBATH members Tony Iommi (guitar) and Bill Ward (drums) attended a civic reception earlier today (Tuesday, September 24) hosted by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Ken Wood, in Birmingham, United Kingdom to mark the inaugural International Day Of Birmingham.

Iommi later shared a photo of him with Ward at today's event, and he included the following message: "You just never know who you'll bump into in Birmingham! We both attended the Lord Mayor's reception for International Birmingham Day."

Festivities also took place in Victoria Square, culminating in the hoisting of the "United States of Birmingham" flag.

Two months ago, Ward said that he "would love to play" one final concert with BLACK SABBATH.

On July 25, Ward took to his social media to write: "Hey ya, Bill Ward checking in regarding all the updates on a possible SABBATH show in England.

"I'm in for playing some of everyone's old favorites. Loved playing them then, I'd love to play them one last time.

"I'm not going to talk about my health publicly except to say, everyday I'm pretty good for 76 years old, I'm active musically every day, and I have a very busy and gratifying life.

"Love you all, all the fucking time."

During an appearance on the May 22 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Iommi was asked about Ozzy Osbourne's comment that he would like to play one final SABBATH concert with Ward. Tony said: "It's a funny old thing, really. I mean, God, we'll be 90 by the time we do that. [Laughs] It'd be a nice idea, but you're gonna get everybody going, 'Oh, they're doing it for the money. They're doing it for this, they're doing it for that, they're doing it…' Well, it wouldn't be. I mean, it'd be something that'd be a nice thing to actually do, but whether it happens will be another thing. But we'll see. I mean, who knows?"

Asked if he misses performing live, Tony said: "It's great to see the audience. I love to play live. But I have been playing. You obviously know about the BLACK SABBATH ballet. And it was great for me to go on at the end — I was playing on the end of the show, which was really good to get out and play live again. And then I did a gig with Johnny Depp when he came over [with HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES]; I played on one of their shows, which was great. It's really good to be able to do that. But, yeah, for me, I've always loved playing live. But I have to look at it realistically at my age. I can't go out and do a two-year tour like we were doing before. And to put something together like the original SABBATH or this or that or the other, you've gotta do it a long time because of the cost of everything. But it would be nice, yes, to do a one-off, if that ever happens, yeah."

On the topic of his health, Iommi — who was diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2012, shortly after SABBATH announced a reunion tour and album — said: "It's up and down at the moment, to be honest. I'm going for a heart check tomorrow. I've been getting these, like, sort of, um… I can't breathe properly and can't get my breath out, so they recommended I go and get this checked tomorrow. But, apart from that, yeah, I've been fine."

Ozzy discussed Ward's absence from SABBATH's final album, "13", during an episode of the new Internet TV show "The Madhouse Chronicles". Released in 2013, it was SABBATH's first LP in 35 years to feature Osbourne, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler. Ozzy said: "I can't remember why Bill didn't do it. I've gotta be truthful. It wasn't really BLACK SABBATH because Bill wasn't there. I mean, if you had Ginger Baker playing with THE BEATLES, it wouldn't be THE BEATLES."

Ozzy also talked about the final show of SABBATH's "The End" tour, which took place in February 2017 in the band's original hometown of Birmingham, England. Asked if he was glad it was done at that moment, Osbourne said: "Yeah, but I was sad that Bill wasn't there. I mean, I mean, Tommy [Clufetos], my drummer [for my solo band], did a great job [stepping in for Bill], but he ain't Bill Ward."

Pressed about whether he is happy with the arc of the legend of BLACK SABBATH, Ozzy said: "No. Because it wasn't BLACK SABBATH that finished it. It's unfinished. If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance. Do you know what would be cool? If we went to a club or something unannounced and we just got up and did it. We started up in a club."

Back in September 2022, Ozzy was asked by Stereogum if he still feels good about where "13" left things with SABBATH. He responded: "Not really, because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really get a charge from the album. Although ['13' producer] Rick Rubin is a good friend of mine, I wasn't really… I was just singing. It was like stepping back in time, but it wasn't a glorious period. Though Geezer did a lot of lyric writing for me, which he's very, very good at. It wasn't an earth-shattering experience for me."

As for whether BLACK SABBATH is "totally done" in his mind, Osbourne: "I would like to say it's completely done. I think it's time. The only thing I really regret, to be honest, is that Bill Ward didn't play on the ['13'] album. It wasn't really a BLACK SABBATH album. I'm not saying that one day we might not all go in a room and come up with the perfect BLACK SABBATH album. But I'll say, ['13'] wasn't recorded the way BLACK SABBATH recorded records. We'd gone right back past the point where we took charge, back to when someone else had full control of our recording. Which we never did from 'Vol. 4' onwards."

Ward in May 2012 announced that he was declining to join his former SABBATH bandmates for its scheduled dates, as well as the recording of the new album, due to a contractual dispute. After SABBATH shot down Rubin's suggestion to replace Ward with Ginger Baker (CREAM) ("I thought, 'Bloody hell?'" Iommi told Rolling Stone magazine. "I just couldn't see that."),Rick suggested RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE drummer Brad Wilk.

In March 2021, Bill admitted to SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that he no longer had the "chops" and the "ability" to perform with BLACK SABBATH. "I have to be back to 60 years old to be able to do that," he said.

"I would love to do a studio album with SABBATH, with all the original members," he continued. "I'm just saying that — I'm just floating that out there. But I'm not done. So, the other three might be done, and I respect that, but no, I'm not done. I think as long as we all exist [laughs] and we're still breathing in air, I think we have every possibility of making some great music together."

Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio during SABBATH's last tour that Ward was not in shape to participate. "Bill Ward has got the most physically demanding job of the lot of us, 'cause he's the timekeeper," he said. "I don't think personally he had the chops to pull it off, you know. The saddest thing is that he needed to own up to that, and we could have worked around it, whether we had a drummer on the side with him or something."

It was rumored that SABBATH wanted to bring a second drummer on the road to share duties with Ward, something that Iommi confirmed in 2017 during a question-and-answer session about SABBATH's "Ten Year War" box set.