A Black Sabbath reunion? Dangerous, dumb and an inevitable disaster

Posted On July 26, 2024July 26, 2024

Not everything in life ends with a firm farewell. Nor should it; this is no happily ever after fairytale. Of all the bands who should appreciate that, surely Black Sabbath are number one. Throughout their career, they raised hell (according to some reports, quite literally), changing the face of music as they did so. Ian Gillian recently crowned them the most important group of the famed Unholy Trinity—a grand feat of darkness, debauchery, and unrivalled musical innovation. So, a happy little reunion not only defies the point of the band, but from afar it seems dangerous, dumb and an inevitable disaster.

Ozzy Osbourne’s recent health struggles have been well-reported. As little as a month ago, he was forced to pull out of the Mad Monster Party in Phoenix, Arizona, on doctor’s orders. So, from the get-go, the logistics of the band’s potential reunion are jeopardised. That’s before you even go into the fact that no doubt white-coated physicians are currently riddled with stress, trying to tell the Prince of Darkness that a grand reunion is about as medically advisable as a skydive without a parachute.

This surely means that rehearsal, if at all possible, will be severely hampered. With that in mind, I invite even the most glossy-eyed fan to imagine what it might look like if a group of four guys, all heading towards their 80s, take to the stage together for the first in over 13 years, having tentatively jammed a couple of times following awkward handshakes with a slew of serious health ailments in tow. Even the most forgiving imagination will surely appreciate it’s not all that promising on paper.

It proves even more maddening by the time you reconcile that with a final show premium applied to tickets and a chance to maximise profits, this uneasy scene will no doubt play out in stadiums where thousands of fans have cashed out three-figure sums for their tickets.

Moreover, given Black Sabbath’s glowing legacy, there will be folks travelling from far and wide, racking up billowing expenses, with the threat of cancellation for myriad reasons looming large over the gig(s) the whole time. So, if there are question marks over whether it is fair to the health of the band, there are even more question marks about whether it is fair to dedicated fans.

Of course, the appeal of the shows from both sides is self-evident. For the fans, it is one final chance to see one of the most influential bands in rock ‘n’ roll history take to the stage for their rightful final bows. For the band, it is a chance to bury old hatchets in the most heartening way, making most of the time that they have left and looking back on beautiful memories while doing what they do best.

However, as this piece began, that’s fairytale thinking, a far cry from how it will most likely pan out when a loving handshake over a pint in an old pub in Birmingham might be the best way for them to appease this itch to make up for lost time. Tony Iommi could bust out the acoustic, and a singalong could serenade the band’s memory in a manner that seems far less daft, dangerous and potentially disastrous and far more fitting for what this band once stood for: mates uncompromisingly reflecting the world as they knew it, not a group adhering to commercial trends by any means.

Latter-day stadium reunions are for Cliff Richard getting back with The Shadows for ‘One Last Bash’ at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road, not the Prince of Darkness, trying to roll back the years to days long gone when he was chowing down on bats and burying the 1960s in a whirl of reimagined blues. Even if they ended on a sour note, perfection was never their thing. They’ve earned their retirement, in fact, circumstance seems to have positively enforced it, pretending otherwise courts potential disaster.

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