Bill Ward Breaks Silence, Expresses Interest in One Last Show with Black Sabbath
Back in May, the Prince of Darkness himself Ozzy Osbourne said in an interview that he’s unhappy with how Black Sabbath ended because original drummer Bill Ward wasn’t involved. For the band’s final album, 13, which came out in 2013, Ward wasn’t able to join the reunion for contractual reasons and was replaced by Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk on drums for the album and Osbourne’s drummer Tommy Clufetos on drums for the final tour and eventually the bands’ “final” show in Birmingham in 2017.
Ozzy expressed a desire to do one last show with Ward, and pretty soon after that, guitarist Tommy Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler chimed in to say that they would also be interested in doing one final show with Ward. But, even with three members expressing an interest in a reunion show with Ward, there’s still the fact that these are very old dudes and it remains up in the air if they’re really going to be able to get back up on the stage. But, more importantly, the most important voice in this discussion, Bill Ward himself, hadn’t chimed in. That is, until now.
Yesterday, Ward finally broke his silence, expressing interest in performing one last show with Black Sabbath. In a statement that Ward posted to multiple social media accounts, he wrote:
“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. Bill”
So, now it would seem that all four original members of Black Sabbath are on board with doing the final reunion show with Ward. The only question that remains is: are they still capable of doing it?
Remember that Ozzy has pretty much retired from touring. He’s waffled on that, going back and forth between saying he’s done performing and saying he might want to do a few more final shows, but back in March he told Rolling Stone that he can’t even really stand upright. Add to that the fact that, in 2021, Ward admitted that he no longer has “the chops” to “drive a band like that on stage.” So, however much the four members want to do this, it might be beyond their abilities at this point.
