Pair reunite at surprise appearance
Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi reunited onstage in their hometown of Birmingham, England last night (Mon, Aug 8th) for a surprise performance during the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. Iommi began with a truncated version of Sabbath’s 1971 classic single, “Iron Man” before Osbourne rose from the stage and launched into “Paranoid.”
“Birmingham forever!” Osbourne yells as pyrotechnics erupt at the end of performance.
They were joined by bassist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos, who performed on Sabbath’s The End farewell tour from 2016-2017. The performance took place in front of 30,000 people at Alexander Stadium and was the duo’s first together since the tour ended in February 2017.
The performance is Osbourne’s first since a November 2020 performance in Germany.
Both have suffered health issues over the past decade with Iommi overcoming a cancer diagnosis. In January 2020, Osbourne announced he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003 and is taking medication for tremors which can cause short-term memory loss. Earlier this year, the goth rocker was diagnosed with COVID-19 but has fully recovered.
Osbourne and Iommi can be heard together on Osbourne’s latest single, “Degradation Rules,” the second single from his forthcoming Patient Number 9 record, due September 9th via Epic Records.