Ozzy Osbourne Hopes Black Sabbath Can Play “One last gig” With Bill Ward

Ozzy Osbourne has announced he’d like Black Sabbath to play “one last gig” with estranged drummer Bill Ward.

Ward bowed out of the Sabbath’s reunion in 2011 – just months after it was announced – through a series of contractual issues, with Tommy Clufetos sitting in for him during the band’s final shows.

But now, reflecting on Black Sabbath’s final shows in their home town of Birmingham in 2017, Osbourne told Kerrang that it was “bittersweet” for him, as Ward wasn’t there to share the experience.

Ozzy says: “I didn’t like the fact that Bill Ward wasn’t there, for a start. People put that down to me, but it wasn’t me, honestly. We didn’t have the f_king time to hang around, we had to get going. But I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Bill.

“Tommy Clufetos did great, but the four of us started this, and it should have been the four of us ending it.

“Those final gigs in Birmingham were bittersweet because you think of how far we came, and how much we did, and it would have been good to have shared that together. Maybe one day there’ll be one last gig, I don’t know.”

Both Ozzy and guitarist Tony Iommi have expressed an interest in Black Sabbath possibly reuniting in 2022 to mark Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games, but nothing has been said about the idea since last summer.

Last month, Bill Ward, Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler came together to receive a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Birmingham’s Black Sabbath 50 Years exhibition is set to open its doors next month. The event has been brought together by Home Of Metal in conjunction with Birmingham’s Museums Trust and has been organised in celebration of the band’s 50th anniversary. The exhibition is set to run from 26 June until 29 September at the city’s Museum & Art Gallery.

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Format: UK English