Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has opened up on the chances of the band getting back together for one final show – see what he had to say below.
READ MORE: Ozzy Osbourne: a rock’n’roll showman like no other
Earlier this month, Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he would “jump at the chance” to play a final Black Sabbath show with co-founding drummer Bill Ward, who backed out of playing the band’s reunion shows between 2011 and 2017 over an “unreasonable” contract.
Now, Butler has chimed in on Osbourne’s desire for a final Black Sabbath performance with their original line-up, telling SirisuXM‘s Eddie Trunk that he and Osbourne have “agreed” to play one last show.
As transcribed by Blabbermouth, Butler said: “Of course there’s an interest [on my part to do it], but there’s a big ‘but’ — you’d have to speak to Bill [Ward] about it. Everybody wants to do it [but I don’t know if he is] capable [of pulling it off].”
Black Sabbath in 1977. Credit: Birmingham Post and Mail Archive/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
Butler added: “Ozzy was hoping to finish it all off next year back in Aston, at the Aston Villa [football stadium in Birmingham]. I’m definitely up for it, to finish the whole thing off. Me and Ozzy have agreed, but I’m not sure about anybody else.”
When asked if Ward would be willing to join the band for a few songs or perhaps a recording session, the bassist replied: “I don’t think so. Maybe, I don’t know. I mean, the way technical things happen these days, maybe a couple of songs, but who knows? There wouldn’t be any traveling involved. We wouldn’t be actually all in the studio at the same time together. So it could be done that way — maybe.”
Geezer Butler’s comments come after Ozzy Osbourne recently reflected on Black Sabbath’s final shows, and how he felt like there was still “unfinished” business with the band: “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 somewhere unannounced and we just got up and did it. We started up in a club.”
Musician Ozzy Osbourne performs during half-time of the NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium on September 08, 2022 in Inglewood, California (CREDIT: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Since then, guitarist Tony Iommi has weighed in on the potential reunion: “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?”
Elsewhere during his chat, Geezer Butler also spoke of his relationship with frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who last year said the bassist did not reach out to him when he was going through a litany of medical issues but have since hashed things out and talk “every day practically”.
Butler said: “There was a lot of miscommunication. He didn’t think I was asking about his health ’cause I know he’s been going through a lot of health problems, and I was sending all these messages to him and they weren’t being passed on to him. So he thought I was just ignoring him.”
He continued: “And then the weird way I had to go through Sabbath’s accountant to tell Ozzy I’d sent him all these things. ‘Cause he did this thing in Rolling Stone saying that I hadn’t been in touch with him about his health. So I went through the accountant, and he got in touch with Ozzy and said, ‘He’s just been sending you stuff. He wants to talk to you.’ And we’ve been fine since that.”
At the beginning of the year, Sharon Osbourne – Ozzy’s wife and manager – revealed that Osbourne was planning “two more shows to say goodbye” before he fully retires from performing live.
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