Watch: Black Sabbath Returns, Minus Bill Ward!

After seven long, lonely years the legendary heavy metal band Black Sabbath have returned! They played their first show to a packed crowd at the 02 Academy, Birmingham, England on May 19. They played in preparation for their first festival appearance at the Download Festival in Donington Park.

Blabbermouth reported that the setlist was:

01. Into The Void

02. Under The Sun

03. Snowblind

04. War Pigs

05. Wheels Of Confusion

06. Electric Funeral

07. Black Sabbath

08. The Wizard

09. Behind The Wall Of Sleep

10. N.I.B.

11. Fairies Wear Boots

12. Tomorrow’s Dream

13. Sweet Leaf

14. Symptom Of The Universe (intro only)

15. Drum Solo

16. Iron Man

17. Dirty Women

18. Children Of The Grave

Encore:

19. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro only)

20. Paranoid

However, all is not good in the world of Black Sabbath! Their drummer Bill Ward will not be playing with them throughout their shows this summer. In a statement that was published on Black-Sabbath.com he said: “I can’t prioritize the Sabbath fans, making one show more important than the other. I can’t do that. All of you are important. It’s all the gigs or none at all. I can’t come to Birmingham and “see what happens” knowing there is a risk of not being able to play Download or Lollapalooza. Again, for me, it’s all or nothing. I had to say “no” to Birmingham on the principle of wanting to play all the shows.”

Bill Ward won’t be playing until a contract can be reached that is suitable for him. In reply to Bill’s statement, Geezer Butler said: “Apparently, this wasn’t acceptable to Bill’s representatives; they wanted an amount that was so unrealistic that it seemed to have been a joke. So we resigned ourselves to doing Download without Bill, hoping he’d change his mind and at least make a guest appearance.”

In his place stands Tommy Clufetos, who is part of lead singer Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band.

However, without the original drummer Bill Ward, this will not be the Black Sabbath reunion that we were promised last November. After Download Festival, they will be playing next at the legendary Lollapalooza Festival from 3rd to 5th August.

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