Tony Iommi Won’t Rule Out Future Black Sabbath Performances

Although Black Sabbath have been on a long farewell tour, it may not be the last we see of them. In a new interview, guitarist Tony Iommi said he was open to the idea of playing one-off gigs at festivals, even after they’ve played what they’ve billed as their final show.

“I wouldn’t write that off, if one day that came about,” he said. “That’s possible. Or even doing an album. Of course, then, again, you’re in one place. But I don’t know if that would happen.”

For Iommi, it’s not that he doesn’t want to play anymore, but that the grind of touring after 45 years has gotten to him. “Shows here and there are fine,” he continued. “It’s just the constant, ‘You’ve gotta be here for a month and there for six weeks,’ and we’ve done it for that long now.”

And it doesn’t help that he’s been battling lymphoma for nearly five years, which has affected both his mental and physical approaches to his work. “It was only when I got ill, that’s when I stated getting vulnerable,” Iommi said. “Before that, I could do anything. But it just showed me when I was diagnosed, I suddenly felt deflated and lost a lot of confidence. And they’re going, ‘You shouldn’t be flying, really,’ and, ‘You shouldn’t be doing this, you shouldn’t be doing that.’ So that’s what brought that about  the end of this, really, because the constant touring does eventually get to you.”

As it stands now, Black Sabbath will wrap up their career with two shows at the Genting Arena in their hometown of Birmingham, England on Feb. 2 and 4, 2017. The band are currently saying goodbye to South America, and will lead up to their last show with two weeks of concerts in Germany, Ireland and the U.K.