Original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has responded to reports that he may join the band onstage for the final show of The End tour.
Ward posts on his Facebook page:
“I must respond once again to inaccurate statements made by Geezer. I never received an offer to play the final show of The End tour with Black Sabbath. When the tour was confirmed, my management reached out to the Black Sabbath management to inquire as to whether or not they would like to discuss my participation in the tour. We were told there was no interest. That is last conversation we had with them regarding the tour.
I will say that I wouldn’t want to play only one gig when I am completely capable of touring. I would not validate their untrue statements about my health by playing only one gig. Also, I wouldn’t want to show up for only some of our fans and not for all our fans when I could have played multiple shows.
— Bill”
Geezer Butler reportedly told Radio.com, “It’s been mentioned to him [to play at the final show], But he doesn’t want to do it. He wants to do the whole tour or nothing. We’d love him to come on at the very last gig and be part of the whole thing, but he didn’t want to do that. And I understand: I wouldn’t want to be asked to come out just for the last gig. It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is.”
[Singer] Ozzy [Osbourne] adds, “If he’s there, he’s welcome [to play]. But I don’t really want to talk too much about Bill Ward! Because every time I do, he starts getting pissed off at me! Things are quiet between us right now, you know?”
Butler continues, “It’s a shame that Bill won’t be a part of it, but whatever happened, happened. It’s great that at least the three of us can end it on a high note and be friends together.” But he adds, “I still get on with Bill, I saw him last year at some award show. We got on great, we had a laugh together. It’s not personal, as Bill would say, it’s business.”
Black Sabbath’s The End tour began on January 20th in Omaha, Nebraska. See the remaining dates below.
January:
25 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
27 Winnipeg MN MTS Centre
30 Edmonton, AB Rexall Centre
February:
1 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
3 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
6 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
9 San Jose, CA SAP Pavilion
11 Los Angeles, CA The Forum
13 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay
15 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
17 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
19 Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
21 Hamilton, ON First Ontario Centre
23 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
25 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
27 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Australia/New Zealand:
April:
15 Perth, AU Perth Arena
17 Adelaide, AU Entertainment Centre
19 Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
23 Sydney, AU Allphones Arena
25 Brisbane, AU Entertainment Centre
28 Auckland, NZ Vector Arena
30 Dunedin, NZ Forsyth Barr Stadium
Europe:
June:
1 Budapest,Hungary Groupama Arena
8 Berlin, Germany Waldebuhne
11 Donington, UK Download**
13 Verona, IT Arena Di Verona
15 Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadon
17 Dessel, Belgium Grasspop**
23 Halden, Norway Tons of Rock**
25 Copenhagen, DE Copenhell**
28 Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
30 Prague, Czech Rep. 02 Arena
July:
2 Krakow, Poland Tauron Arena
5 Riga, Latvia Riga Arena
7 Helsinki, Finland Monsters of Rock**
9 Stockholm, Sweden Monsters of Rock**
12 Moscow, Russia Olympisky Arena
**Denotes festival appearance
North America:
August:
17 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
19 Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Bank Center
21 Washington DC Jiffy Lube Live
23 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
25 Boston, MA Xfinity Center
27 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
29 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
31 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theater
September:
2 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
4 Chicago, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
9 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Ampitheater
11 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Ampitheater
13 Portland, OR Sunlight Supply Arena
15 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
17 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
19 Hollywood, CA Hollywood Bowl
21 Phoenix, AZ AK-Chin Pavilion
28 Responses
It’s not like I had respect for Black Sabbath to begin with, I do love their music, but what I had is gone for what they’ve done to Bill. It sounds like Geezer may actually be some type of friend but he obviously has no balls to back his friend. Ozzy, Toni, Geezer & Sharon can suck it. It’s hard to listen to Sabbath now.
Geezer said the same thing Ozzy has said, that Bill physically couldn’t do a tour. Its too easy to blame Ozzy and Sharon for everything. Its actually even more disrespectful to Tony/Geezer that everyone thinks they have no control.
BTW, saw them last night up in Winnipeg – great show and worth the trip.
I just now footage of Sabbath live on January 27th and during Rat Salad/drum solo, they showed footage of Bill on the big screen. Ironically, the first images were of the Bill I described in my reply to Mr Monet’s post above. I don’t know what Sabbath had in mind in doing that. Are they trying to show respect to Bill? Are they mocking him? I’m sure Bill is going to have something to say about it.
How ironic James that you mentioned Eric Singer playing Bill Ward ’78, on top of my dvd pile is Sabbath Never Say Die tour, about to be watched.