Sharon Osbourne and Tony Iommi tell us about Black Sabbath’s finale: “Usually this thing is done when you’re dead”

nme.com:

Tony Iommi have spoken to NME about what to expect from Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne‘s final concert – letting a few surprises slip – and what it means to be going out with such a bang on home turf.It was announced yesterday (Wednesday February 5) that the metal icons would be reuniting with their original line-up of Osbourne, guitarist Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward.

It will mark their first time playing live together in two decades, and come as the very last performance from the band and frontman.

All profits will go to charities Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice – a Children’s Hospice supported by Aston Villa.Dubbed, ‘Back To The Beginning’ their homecoming and finale at Birmingham’s Villa Park will see a stacked line-up of huge names from throughout the ages of rock – including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, Slash and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Alice In Chains, members of Limp Bizkit and KoRn, as well as Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello (who also acts of musical director of the concert).It’s a packed bill gathered to say goodbye to pioneers of the genre, however, speaking to NME shortly after the announcement at Villa Park, Sharon said that the band’s legacy was too profound for them to ever really be gone.“You can’t say goodbye,” Ozzy’s wife and manager told NME. “Look at what they leave – it’s a huge, great body of work that they’ve left for the world.

As long as you’ve got that, it’s never goodbye. It’s there for eternity.”She admitted that husband Ozzy was currently feeling “very emotional” about the final show, and that it is “what he wants”.“He wants to say thank you to everybody.