Music
Black Sabbath WILL headline Download Festival 2016! Everything you need to know about their final tour
The second announcement from Download Festival 2016 is IN and it’s none other than Black Sabbath who will be headlining Donington on Saturday 11 June.
Ozzy Osbourne and co join Iron Maiden on the line-up, with Download doubling as the UK stop on Sabbath’s final tour in 2016. Sob.
It’ll be a homecoming like no other when the rock legends visit Donington, with Ozzy commenting, “Download is my absolute favourite summer festival; it’s always like coming home. See you all there!”
In anticipation of Black Sabbath at Download Festival 2016, here’s everything you need to know about the band’s final tour so far…
Big production
According to the official statement, Black Sabbath will ‘bring their biggest and most mesmerising production to date’ to Donington next June.
On Bill Ward’s return…
After a public falling out between the band and drummer Bill Ward, Tony Iommi has since commented on the chances of Ward returning for the run of final shows in 2016. He told Gigwise: “No, to be honest – I don’t know if that’s going to happen. But who knows? You never know.”
The final album
In the same interview, Iommi talked about the possibility of one final Sabbath record: “We’ve got some tracks that we recorded before with Rick Rubin in LA… When we did our last album we made 16 tracks, but we only put eight on the album so there are tracks there that could possibly show their face at some point.”
British metal will miss them
In a fantastic think piece on Teamrock.com, Paul Brannigan writes about Sabbath’s irreplaceable legacy in British rock and metal. “Black Sabbath did indeed formulate heavy metal,” Paul writes, “For, more than four decades on from the release of the quartet’s truly seminal debut album, it’s a truism that no other band has come close to matching their legacy.”
Ozzy isn’t going far
When news broke back in April that Sabbath would embark on a final tour, Ozzy told reporters: “The Sabbath thing is folding up after the next tour, but I’m gonna continue with my solo career.” Asked about the difference between performing with the band and when solo, he added: “With Black Sabbath I’m part of a band that I grew up with, so we all know each other’s temperaments… You know where to tread and where not to tread. It’s a completely different [style] of music anyway [to my solo material] — it’s very slow and heavy.”
It’s a big ol’ tour
The UK is the latest addition to an already extensive list of dates announced for Black Sabbath’s final tour. North America dates kick off on 20 November in Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center, before hitting Australia, New Zealand and Europe through 2016.
Tickets for Download Festival 2016 go on sale at 09:00 on Friday 23 October, just head to Ticketmaster.co.uk/download.
The final headliner for Download Festival 2016 will be announced tomorrow at 7pm! Until then, let us know what you’re thinking so far @TicketmasterUK.
