Ultimate Rhoads

Has anything been mentioned in the press about the health of Tony Iommi. I know Bill Ward has said he'd not be playing or touring with Sabbath. So who is drumming for them ?. As they have a gig in 8 days time. Is anyone going to this gig ?.

Lucky Dog... are you going?


I am also curious about the drummer situation. My money is on Tommy Clefatoes. I may have mispelled his name.


Word is that Tony is doing really well. I read somewhere Ozzy said Tony is completly involved with the recording and it writing the best stuff that he has in years.

Jim Norton was on the Opie and Anthony show and he said Ozzy let him hear 2 new Sabbath songs. I have not heard if he commented on them or not.

axeman_12656 wrote:Lucky Dog... are you going?

No... i was surprised to see how much the ticklets are selling for on ebay. I know it's a warm up gig for the show at the Download festival. That gig was rumoured to be Ozzy & friends not Sabbath ?. But i don't know if that was announced after Tony was diagnosed ?. I would love to see them do a full UK tour every time Ozzy has toured he's always kept the dates to a few or he's cancelled the tour. The last time Sabbath played my home town with the original line up was in 1978. Which i missed, as i was only 12 but i'm glad i got to see Ozzy with Randy in 1980.

Alright Shaun, yeah its gone quiet on the Bill Ward situation, God knows who's gonna be playing drums, I'm still holdong out for Bill, but last I heard Ozzy's drummer Tommy Clufetso was helping out Sabbath in the studio so I'd put my money on him.
I'm going to Download, really looking forward to it, but can't get to Birmingham for the Astoria gig. From a selfish point of view (lol) I was kinda hoping they wasnt doing any gigs before Download so the set-list would be a total suprise, but hey ho, having said that, its probably roughly the same set as every time I've seen 'em since the reunion, Sabbath (and Ozzy also) have never been ones to vary their set-list much, I think Ozzy likes familiarity.

Fozzy41 wrote:Alright Shaun, yeah its gone quiet on the Bill Ward situation, God knows who's gonna be playing drums, I'm still holdong out for Bill, but last I heard Ozzy's drummer Tommy Clufetso was helping out Sabbath in the studio so I'd put my money on him.
I'm going to Download, really looking forward to it, but can't get to Birmingham for the Astoria gig. From a selfish point of view (lol) I was kinda hoping they wasnt doing any gigs before Download so the set-list would be a total suprise, but hey ho, having said that, its probably roughly the same set as every time I've seen 'em since the reunion, Sabbath (and Ozzy also) have never been ones to vary their set-list much, I think Ozzy likes familiarity.

Hi Gaz, I thought you'd be going to this one, but your right he'll do the same set. so it seems pointless going to see the same set twice. I think it'll be his last with Sabbath so it would be nice to see the remaining line up doing a tour. I was fortunate to see H&H and never thought it would be the last time i'd see Dio on stage. I'm not going to mention what could be the outcome of a farewell tour for Sabbath. But as far as all the BS with Bill not doing the album and how fit Tony is to continue ?. I'd hate to see Ozzy trying his best to continue doing anything with Sabbath with just him and Geezer. I'll have to get to the Download festival i've promised myself for the last 4 years i'd go. I ain't getting any younger and this years line up looks really good. OK Gaz mate i'm sure you'll have a great time without me. Good to see you on here

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote: OK Gaz mate i'm sure you'll have a great time without me. Good to see you on here

I'll try mate, haha.
Yeah its been a while since I posted on here, but I do keep checking in n
now and then to keep up with the latest news/gossip.

In a familiar move, likely by $omeOne, Bill Ward's image has been cropped out of every photo on the blacksabbath.com site. All the vintage photos of the band only show Ozzy, Tony and Geezer. It looks ridiculous. Who wants to look at something that is incomplete?

xx123456

How petty and pathetic to remove Bill from all the photos. It just goes to show you, whatever you've done in the past can quickly be erased. But to do such a childish act will they be doing another Blizzard / Diary episode. Remove the drummer on all the Sabbath albums. Then rerelease them with the original drummer 5 years later tut tut..

Interesting...this was just posted on the BS facebook page:

Black Sabbath/Bill Ward Photo Statement

"At the request of Bill Ward, through his attorney, so as to not give the public the wrong impression about his involvement in the current Black Sabbath lineup, we have temporarily removed Bill Ward's images from the main pages of the blacksabbath.com official website. In accordance with Bill Ward's attorney's request, we are doing so for the duration of the forthcoming shows." BLACK SABBATH

I've noticed that, as mentioned above, they only removed them from the main pages. Bill still appears on the history pages.

So has this been done so the fans will know Bill is not involved in the current line up. A similar thing happened on the last Judas Priest tour. KK Downing had left but all the advertising posters and flyers had KK pictured. Later the posters changed with the new guitarist Ritchie Faulkner. The Black Sabbath situation is a strange one like who's to blame tennis. Knocking one argument back with another excuse and an explanation. You'd think after all these years they'd be able to make an album and tour and be content. But BS and money is a different matter.

xx123456

This all still smells too much like Sharon. Maybe not, but maybe uhh like YES?

Well this is the audio from the whole of the Birmingham gig from the other night. Enjoy Regardless of all the BS that has happened the comments from the youtube clips are reading mainly positive and the show must go on, with or without Bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECBYax5Tqdg

Face it, Black Sabbath IS TONY IOMMI and to a certain extent Geezer