The recently-reunited veteran British heavy metal band Black Sabbath will kick off their 2012 world tour with shows in Moscow and St.Petersburg in May, concert organizers said on Friday.
The band, which first got together in 1969, announced on November 11 they would reunite in the original four-man lineup and record their first new album in 33 years.
The original foursome of the band’s frontman Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bass player Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward will perform at Moscow’s Olimpiyski stadium on May 18 and at the St.Petersburg’s Nova Arena stadium two days later.
The musicians, all in their 60s, said it was high time to reunite since they are “getting along great” and had already written about eight new songs.
“The program of the tour will likely to include only hits. They have not played together for a long time, and it is going to be a present for their fans,” Vladimir Zubitsy, the promoter of the band’s Russian concerts said.
Some of the rockers’ fans however are not so optimistic about the future show.
“The original Black Sabbath albums are pretty much the apex of human civilization, but I somehow doubt that the reformed group will reach the same heights. So I’m not really excited about it,” Julian O’Shaughnessy, a Moscow-based Black Sabbath fan, said.
Among the most ardent of Russia’s Black Sabbath fans is President Dmitry Medvedev. The president once confessed that he had spent much of his youth, “Endlessly making copies of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.”
Black Sabbath was included into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 and has sold over 70 million copies of their albums throughout the world.