Ozzy Osbourne has ruled out taking part in a future Black Sabbath reunion show, despite having previously said he wanted it to happen.

In a new interview he expressed regret that original drummer Bill Ward hadn’t taken part in their farewell appearances in Birmingham, U.K. in February 2017, after internal disagreements went unresolved. However, he also said he was no longer interested in getting back on stage with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.

“I was talking to Tony Iommi the other day, and he was saying, by the looks of it, we’re gonna be a fucking thing of the past in the respect that there’ll be no more indoor gigs,” Osbourne told Rolling Stone. Asked about Iommi’s comments on doing one more show, he responded: “Not for me. It’s done. The only thing I do regret is not doing the last farewell show in Birmingham with Bill Ward. I felt really bad about that. It would have been so nice. I don’t know what the circumstances behind it were, but it would have been nice.” He emphasised that he didn’t have “any of the slightest interest” in another appearance, suggesting: “Maybe Tony’s getting bored now.”

Looking back on Black Sabbath’s five-decade history, the singer said: “I remember thinking, ‘Well, this will be all right for a few years.’ Fucking 50 years later, it’s still going. Those guys [are] my brothers, you know? They go back to my childhood. It’s more than a friendship with me and them guys; it’s a family. I don’t know any other people as long as I’ve known them.

Osbourne said he’d been trying to write songs for a follow-up to this year’s acclaimed solo album Ordinary Man, but that producer and co-writer Andrew Watt was still suffering the effects of COVID-19, which he caught in March. “He was very sick, and he still is,” Osbourne reported. “He had a good day and a bad day, you know? It fucks your lungs up. We were supposed to be [writing], but he texted me the other day and said, ‘I have to ask for some time.’ I said, ‘Whenever you’re ready, call me.’ I have a couple ideas; not many. With Andrew, it just comes out in the moment.”

He also vowed that he’d play another show at some point, saying: “I’m working out every day. I’m doing the best I can… I haven’t done my last gig yet. Even if it’s just to do one gig, I will do a gig. Then I’ll feel like I finished my job.”

 

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