Tony Iommi took theatergoers by surprise when he briefly performed at the opening night of Black Sabbath – The Ballet.
The guitar icon said via social media, “Thanks to everyone who supported us at the Ballet, we had a great premiere last night. I’m honored to be involved with these talented dancers.” Iommi did clarify in his post that he won’t be part of every single performance.
As previously reported, Black Sabbath – The Ballet is a production from the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Birmingham, of course, is where the legendary heavy metal band formed back in 1968.
According to the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s website, the special performance will run September 23-30 at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Two more show runs are set for October. The first will take place in Plymouth, England at Theatre Royal Plymouth from October 12-14. The second will take place in London at Sadler’s Wells from October 18-21.
Black Sabbath: The Best 30 Songs From The Ozzy Osbourne Era(s), Ranked
Fifty years ago this week (September 18), the mighty Black Sabbath released their second album, Paranoid, in America. A bit tighter than their self-titled debut, which came out earlier in the year, Paranoid‘s title track became their biggest radio hit in America. The album also had “Luke’s Wall/War Pigs” and “Iron Man,” But the 41-minute album didn’t waste a second: it’s a perfect album.
In fact, seven of the eight songs made our list that we put together in honor of Paranoid‘s 50th. And yes, Black Sabbath did some incredible stuff with Ozzy’s replacement, the late, great Ronnie James Dio… and that’s probably a list for another day (and yes, both RJD and drummer Vinny Appice should have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the founding four members, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward) .
Here, we decided to stick with songs from the Ozzy eras of the band. 1970’s debut album (and the “Evil Woman” single) through 1978’s Never Say Die! and also 2013’s 13. Yes, we know that they put out two new songs in the ’90s, but those didn’t come close to making this list… which, like Paranoid, doesn’t waste a moment. The roots of every heavy metal band can be found in these thirty songs.
