With the metal world still somewhat reeling from the loss of Ozzy Osbourne in July, only a few short weeks after Black Sabbath‘s final show, Back To The Beginning. Alongside Osbourne in his final performance was long-time friend and guitarist, Tony Iommi, a pivotal member of Black Sabbath. And, one of the people honouring Osbourne‘s memory the most happens to be Iommi.
This proved to be the case when Iommi joined Birmingham’s Royal Ballet for their ballet rendition of “Black Sabbath,” taking the stage for the production’s closing number, “Paranoid.” Performing the guitar solo in the track, Iommi pleasantly surprised ballet-goers with the unannounced addition.
It was the opening night of the performance, Wednesday the 22nd of October, and Queen’s Sir Brian May was in the audience, both filming and enjoying Iommi‘s solo. May took to socials to post the videos he took alongside the caption, “”Wow! The true Father of Heavy Metal making that beautiful axe sing like a bird tonight at Sadlers Wells. Tony Iommi plus a 40 piece orchestra and a cast of 50 dancers – putting the icing on the cake of a great production of Black Sabbath The Ballet. Proud to call this infinitely modest and generous genius my friend.””
Iommi has been vocal about the loss of his old friend, saying to BBC that it was like “losing a brother,” and has been doing his best to honour him ever since.
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