After nearly 50 years, Black Sabbath call it a day in Birmingham

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: Black Sabbath without Bill Ward

FORMED in 1968, the band that came to epitomise sex, drugs and rock and roll, Black Sabbath finally bowed out with their last ever concert taking place in their hometown Birmingham on Saturday February 4 as the culmination of a year-long world tour.

Three of the original founders of the band, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne performed a two hour show which concentrated on their early music which first brought them international acclaim but the fourth member, drummer Bill Ward who had fallen out with Osbourne in particular did not make an appearance.

The Sabbath side say that he would have been welcome but wasn’t fit enough to play the entire tour whilst he denied this and said that he would have liked to have played on the tour but wouldn’t have turned up just for the last night as it would have been unfair to all of their fans.

Considering that their biggest hit single was entitled ‘paranoid’ and depending on what side of the argument you stand, this could be an ideal description of the rift that exists between them.

At the end of the day however the final concert went well and 68-year-old front man Ozzy thanked everyone for supporting them as they went off stage to the roar of fireworks and the audience.

Ozzy has already announced that he will continue to perform on a solo basis whilst Bill Ward has a new band. For those old rockers who missed the show, there will be a special on the band on the Radio 1 Rock Show at 8pm (Spanish time) tonight (February 5) and there will be a pod cast of the programme available through the internet soon after.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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