Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath’s Live Aid

35 years ago Black Sabbath reunited briefly for the huge event of Live Aid. Tony Iommi reflects on this time.

The rock icons played in the Philadelphia run of the tour of Live Aid on 14th July 1985. It marked the first time the original line up since 1978, featuring Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler.

Iommi tells SiriusXM “It was great being with the guys again. It was a bit surreal to be honest because basically I’d been in the studio working. It was an unusual thing for us to come from the studio then suddenly here we are onstage in front of all the people.

“We’d never really done that before. We’ve always rehearsed for a proper show for a while, but this was like a quick rehearsal for an hour and the next day we were on stage.”

“But this was a quick rehearsal for an hour or whatever it was, and then the next day, of course, on stage. So it was a bit nerving, because you don’t know how things are gonna go with the equipment and all this stuff. We hadn’t been on stage together for so long. You have to sort of suck it and see what’s gonna happen.”

Bob Geldoff and Midge Ure were the organisers for the Live Aid concerts that raised funds for African famine (Over $127 million was raised) and watched by close to two billion people worldwide! And this was long before the internet. It would have been screen on an old CRT broadcast television. No 4k available but Dolby Sound was sure was!

Black Sabbath played their last shows in their hometown of Birmingham in February 2017. If things are looking good it may not be the last as Osbourne and Iommi have talked about a possible bunch of shows in 2022 to mark the celebration of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.