Bill Ward, drummer for Black Sabbath , reflected on the band's final show. Black Sabbath 's farewell concert took place on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK. Approximately 40,000 people attended the event, with 5.8 million people watching the show online.
In an interview with the LA Radio Sessions , given days before the Ozzy Osbourne 's death , Bill spoke about what determined Sabbath's setlist for the Back To The Beginning [transcription via Blabbermouth ]:
“Good question. I think it was a common denominator of what we thought we could play. We tried a few other songs. It didn't work out very well. I think it was about finding the most popular songs—actually, popular isn't a very good word, because there are probably many songs that are popular. Definitive—yes, let's use definitive, as being the most definitive songs that work for all of us, all of us being the band members.”
Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne , bassist Geezer Butler , guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward played together for the first and last time in 20 years. The setlist consisted of only four songs: "War Pigs," "Iron Man," "NIB," and "Paranoid." However, the band intended to play more.
Bill Ward's feelings after the final note was played.
Asked about his feelings when the final note was played in Birmingham, Bill said: “My feeling, at that moment, was really to get up from the drums. Seriously, that’s what I was thinking, and to see if Ozzy was okay. That’s what I was thinking. And to make sure Geezer and Tony were paying attention.”
Bill continued: “And then I wanted to see the audience, so I went out and applauded the audience. So that’s what I had in mind. And I looked back, and my family was there, and I applauded my family and the people who were around me on stage. I had a lot of crew members there, and I applauded them. So basically, it was a matter of honoring all the people who were listening. That’s exactly what I was doing. It wasn’t anything really deeper or more mature or anything like that. I just wanted to thank everyone. There were a lot of musicians there that I know, and I was… applauding them too. I love them very much. As you know, we’ve had our radio show for many, many years, so we know a lot of artists.”
What will Bill Ward do from now on?
The drummer stated that performing with Black Sabbath gave him the chance to relive his glory days with the band, thanking his bandmates [via Ultimate Guitar ]. But Bill doesn't intend to stop. In a recent interview with LA Radio Sessions , the drummer talked about his plans to release new solo music in the coming months.
The album Bill is going to release already has a name, Beyond Aston , and currently has 26 tracks developed: “We’ve been in the studio. We’ve been living in the studio, that’s what we’ve been doing. And we have two albums that are almost ready. We’re going to release them and we’re finalizing them. We have to go back to the studio in about another week. And we have four days left to finish our final overdubs for the newest album that will be released. And we haven’t mixed it yet. But we will do that too.”
Ozzy Osbourne's last concert
Ozzy Osbourne died just 17 days after his last live performance, at Black Sabbath 's farewell show , which took place on July 5th at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Approximately 40,000 people attended the event, with 5.8 million people watching the show online.
Titled "Back To The Beginning ," the final show by the greatest heavy metal band reunited the four original members. Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler , guitarist Tony Iommi , and drummer Bill Ward played together for the first and last time in 20 years.
Ozzy Osbourne's last public appearance was at the Birmingham edition of Comic Con Midlands . The event took place a few days after Back to the Beginning , on July 12th and 13th.
Ozzy, along with his wife/manager Sharon, his daughter Kelly, and his son Jack, held autograph and photo sessions on both days of the event.
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