Allegedly, Tony Iommi was offered the chance to join Black Sabbath on the upcoming Power Trip festival, but he turned it down.
Iommi revealed this fact in an interview with Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk that he turned it down because Ozzy Osbourne was having health issues, even though Ozzy is planning on being the headliner.
“It’s hard, because Ozzy‘s been going through a lot of stuff lately,” says Iommi as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “He’s in hospital and out of hospital, and he’s really been fighting it; he really wants to get out there. But in my mind, it’s very difficult to sort of say yes. I’ve gotta think of the people in the band as well. I’ve gotta think of Ozzy, if he’s gonna be all right to do a show and whatever. So I wasn’t that comfortable with it.
“But I didn’t know Ozzy (chuckles) would be doing it on his own. But it’s great. I hope he can do it, and that it’ll be really good. He really wants to do it. And he’s really trying to pull to get himself back. He’s had to go through such a lot of hard stuff lately. It’s such a shame, really. But he’s still fighting there.”
He also mentioned that he was concerned drummer Bill Ward might also not be in the best of health.
“To do a full show, you’ve gotta make sure everybody’s in good shape because people are gonna remember you by that show. And I don’t want our reputation to go downhill all of a sudden. If something goes wrong, or somebody can’t make it and we have to cancel… ‘Cause I don’t know everybody’s health; I don’t know how Bill’s feeling these days. You just don’t know. So I’d like to be sure. If you’re gonna do anything, it’s gotta be good or (you should) not bother.”
With these words, it’s hard to know if the original Black Sabbath line up will ever share the stage again, but die hard Sabbath fans can still hold out some help while these almost-reunions continue to happen.