TONY IOMMI On GEEZER BUTLER's Absence At 2022 Commonwealth Games Performance With OZZY OSBOURNE - "He Was Not Quite In Fine Fettle To Come Over To Play"

On Monday, August 8th, Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi held a partial Black Sabbath reunion at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in their hometown of Birmingham, England.

Osbourne and Iommi, along with drummer Tommy Clufetos and bassist Adam Wakeman, performed their classic song "Paranoid". Video footage, courtesy of YouTube user Solid Gold Hits can be enjoyed below. This surprise performance marked the first time Osbourne and Iommi played onstage together since the last Black Sabbath show in 2017, which was also in Birmingham, England.

BirminghamLive has since addressed the issue of original Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler having not been part of the performance. Following is an excerpt from the report:

Everything was done at such short notice and circumstances for Geezer had already intervened. Tony told BirminghamLive that even during his own performance at the opening ceremony, he had no idea Ozzy would be able to travel from the United States having not long had an operation to improve his mobility following a fall at home.

When Ozzy saw the opening ceremony and decided to come over at the last minute, Tony had no chance to do any proper preparations. The pair only arrived in the stadium in mid-afternoon with time for one rehearsal of "Paranoid", one of the songs which defined the group's career.

So why no Geezer? Tony told BirminghamLive: "I don't think he wanted to come over as he hadn't been well with Covid. He'd been on holiday to Kenya and to Italy and had had an accident on a boat, cracking or breaking a rib about three weeks ago, so he was not quite in fine fettle to come over to play. It's a shame because we'd talked for a long time about the possibility of playing at the Commonwealth Games."

Tony added: "I never thought that Ozzy would be able to come and perform at the Commonwealth Games because of his operation. And then when he said he was coming over we were asked to keep it all a secret so that nobody would know."

Read the complete report here.

(Photo - Mick Hutson/Redferns)