HEAVEN & HELL Guitarist's 'Back Pain' Forces METALWAY Cancelation

June 21, 2009

According to Sergi Ramos of The Metal Circus, HEAVEN & HELL was forced to cancel its appearance Sunday night (June 21) at the Metalway Festival in Zaragoza, Spain due to back pain suffered by guitarist Tony Iommi. Ramos tells BLABBERMOUTH.NET, "The stage was already set with all [HEAVEN & HELL's] gear and backline, and after a 45-minute delay in the showstart, an ambulance was called to the backstage area and the techs started dismantling their stage gear. There was a big confusion for about half an hour, and afterwards a member of the organization [came up on stage and] explained what happened to Tony, telling [the crowd] that the show wasn't cancelled yet [and] that a doctor was trying to determine whether he could go on or not. After a few minutes, while the next band [SAXON] was setting up their stage gear, Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice appeared on stage [see photo below] to adressed the issue in front of the crowd. Ronnie kneeled on stage as if to say 'sorry' and proceeded to tell the crowd that the show could not go on due to Tony's back problem and that they would make it up at another time and place when it's possible. Ronnie even sang a bit of the chorus section of 'Heaven And Hell' for the audience. GOD FORBID, who were casually in the backstage area with their friends OPETH, stepped in to play a show after SAXON finished its set."

As previously reported, HEAVEN & HELL's June 16, 2009 concert at Museumsmeile in Bonn, Germany was professionally filmed by WDR's (German public TV) series "Rockpalast" and will be broadcast the morning of July 13 at 00.25h.

For more information, visit Rockpalast.de.

HEAVEN & HELL will bring its wicked world tour to North America for a select number of shows this August. The band will start its summer headlining music festivals across Europe before bringing its macabre stage show of metal classics to North America starting on August 7 in Vancouver. COHEED AND CAMBRIA will provide support on all shows except the Seattle date on August 8, which will feature NEUROSIS in the supporting slot.

Photo credit: The Metal Circus

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