Black Sabbath: New Tony Iommi Video Interview Available

Paul Cashmere of Australia's Noise11.com recently recently conducted an interview with Tony Iommi. You can now watch the chat below.

On drummer Bill Ward's decision to back out of the Black Sabbath reunion over a contractual dispute:

Iommi: "It's been a on-off thing with Bill for many years with me. It was disappointing. We were all disappointed in it. It happened before with Heaven & Hell. We wanted Bill to come in and Bill wanted to do it again. We got him in and he left again. We were used to it, really. It's a shame. We would have liked Bill to be on the album, and I'm sure Bill would have liked to have been on it, but it just got to a silly situation. It just didn't happen."

On being the only member of Black Sabbath to have never left the band:

Iommi: "It was just that I never left. I carried on. What do you do? You try and make the best of what you can. I enjoyed some of what we done. We did some really good stuff. With Dio, I thought 'Heaven And Hell', 'Mob Rules', they were good albums. 'Dehumanizer' and stuff. Also some of the stuff with Tony Martin [vocals] and Cozy [Powell, drums] I liked. When people aren't there, you try and replace it, and it's really difficult to replace original members, because that's the sound you have, you all create. I've done quite a few albums with Tony Martin, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray. We'd done 'Headless Cross' and the 'Forbidden' album, which was the last one we'd done with that lineup. I didn't really like that album." 

Black Sabbath: Entire Adelaide Show (HD) Posted Online

Fan-filmed video footage of Black Sabbath's entire May 7 performance at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia can be seen below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. War Pigs
02. Into The Void
03. Under The Sun
04. Snowblind
05. Black Sabbath
06. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
07. N.I.B.
08. Fairies Wear Boots
09. Symptom Of The Universe (instrumental)
10. Drum Solo
11. Iron Man
12. God Is Dead?
13. Dirty Women
14. Children Of The Grave

Encore:
15. Paranoid

Iron Maiden: Kicks Off European Leg Of Maiden England Tour; Bilbao, Spain, Footage Posted Online

More photos at rafabasa

Iron Maiden kicked off their European leg of the "Maiden England" tour on Monday, May 27, at Bilbao Exhibition Centre in Barakaldo, Bilbao, Spain. The trek is based on the band's "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour", with a setlist almost exclusively from the 1980s featuring all the classic songs and hits. The same spectacular stage set as was used on the original 1988 tour has been recreated, complete with a magnificent light show, pyro and a newly reincarnated Eddie!

The band's setlist for last night's concert was as follows:

01. Moonchild
02. Can I Play With Madness
03. The Prisoner
04. 2 Minutes To Midnight
05. Afraid To Shoot Strangers
06. The Trooper
07. The Number Of The Beast
08. Phantom Of The Opera
09. Run To The Hills
10. Wasted Years
11. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
12. The Clairvoyant
13. Fear Of The Dark
14. Iron Maiden

Encore:

15. Aces High
16. The Evil That Men Do
17. Running Free

Bernie Marsden Rejoins Whitesnake In Manchester; Videos Available

Guitarist Bernie Marsden rejoined his Whitesnake bandmates on stage at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England (Thursday, May 23) to perform two songs: "Fool For Your Loving" and "Here We Go Again". Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below:

Black Sabbath: Tony Iommi Was 'Shocked' By Bill Ward's Decision To Bow Out Of Sabbath Reunion

Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne were interviewed for a cover story in the July 2013 issue of Guitar World magazine. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On Iommi being diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma at the end of 2011:

Iommi: "Once I heard my doctor say that, my whole world changed. I thought, Bloody cancerous lymphoma? Well, that's it. I've had it.

"Once they diagnosed it, I had to start the treatment right away. And it knocked me about. I'd go through stages thinking, Can I do this? And then: Of course I can do this. I don't want to die. I want to carry on and do what I'm supposed to do.

"They thought I would pack up. But I asked the doctor, 'Is it okay if I work?' And he said, 'Yes, you've just got to be careful.' So I'd go in the studio and play for a bit. Then I'd get tired and I'd have to go and sit down. The guys would tell me not to push it."

Osbourne: "We all rallied around him. But it's not like we'd be saying, 'Are you okay? Are you okay?' We just got on with it. Sure, he looked tired, but he was a soldier and marched on. He still had more riffs coming out of him than anyone. None of us would go, 'Oh, he's fucking ill again.' We're bros. We grew up together. It's like a family member getting sick."

Butler: "It brought up how we're all just mortal beings, and we aren't gonna be here forever. Tony and I were on the Heaven  & Hell tour with Ronnie James Dio, and six months later Ronnie was dead [from stomach cancer, in 2010]. We didn't have any inkling that was gonna happen. When Tony got the cancer, obviously that was in his mind. We didn't know how he'd respond to the treatment. So it was like, Let's get the album done at all costs, as long as Tony's up to it. So we'd write for three weeks, and then he'd go for his treatment and we'd all have three weeks off. But it didn't affect his playing at all. In fact I think it really encouraged him and kept his mind off the cancer, which is the best thing you can possibly do if you have that."

On Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward opting out of the band's reunion in early 2012 over some well-publicized contractual disagreements:

Iommi: "I was shocked. We were hearing stuff from lawyers, like, 'I'm not happy with this. I'm not happy with that.' We waited a long time for Bill and we wanted to sort it out. But at the end of the day, especially after I was diagnosed, I thought, Fucking hell, that's it. We've got to get a move on. I might pop off next year! So I emailed him and said, 'Bill, we can't wait any longer. We've got to get on with it.' And that was it."

On whether they felt any performance anxiety recording their first Sabbath album together since 1978's "Never Say Die!":

Osbourne: "The pressure on us was terrific. I didn't want to sound hokey, trying to cop 'Paranoid' or 'Master Of Reality'. But at the end of the day, you just have to go with your heart and 'let go and let god,' as they say. I'll know if I'm cutting corners and if I can do a better vocal take or melody."