Metal Anarchy

During a recent appearance SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi revealed that the group turned down an offer to perform at the Power Trip festival in Indio, CA. As previously reported, that event will find the band’s frontman, Ozzy Osbourne, preforming alongside Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, and Tool on October 6-8.

Iommi said the following:

“Yes, there was [an offer]. But I didn’t, at that point… It’s hard, because Ozzy’s been going through a lot of stuff lately. He’s in hospital and out of hospital, and he’s really been fighting it; he really wants to get out there. But in my mind, it’s very difficult to sort of say yes. I’ve gotta think of the people in the band as well. I’ve gotta think of Ozzy, if he’s gonna be all right to do a show and whatever. So I wasn’t that comfortable with it. But I didn’t know Ozzy [chuckles] would be doing it on his own. But it’s great. I hope he can do it and that it’ll be really good. He really wants to do it. And he’s really trying to pull to get himself back. He’s had to go through such a lot of hard stuff lately. It’s such a shame, really. But he’s still fighting there.”

He continued when asked if the group’s original lineup would have performed:

“Yeah. Sort of, yeah. I mean, we hadn’t approached the others as far as doing it. They might have said no. But it didn’t get much further than me, really. But, yeah, that’s the way it is. If you’re gonna go out, I want to do a good show. I want to go out on the top and do it. I don’t wanna just go and slap something together. And I’m not saying it would have been, but it could have been difficult.”

Iommi also added the following about possible one-off shows:

“I’ve certainly done the Commonwealth Games [in Birmingham last August] with Ozzy, and that sort of happened. But to do a full show, you’ve gotta make sure everybody’s in good shape because people are gonna remember you by that show. And I don’t want our reputation to go downhill all of a sudden. If something goes wrong or somebody can’t make it and we have to cancel… ‘Cause I don’t know everybody’s health; I don’t know how Bill [Ward]’s feeling these days. You just don’t know. So I’d like to be sure. If you’re gonna do anything, it’s gotta be good or [you should] not bother.”

[via Blabbermouth]