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Tony Iommi has admitted that he had doubts about Black Sabbath performing at last year’s historic Back To The Beginning show at Villa Park in Birmingham.

In an exclusive interview in the new issue of Classic Rock, Iommi reveals he was initially dubious when Sabbath were asked to reunite for the show, which saw Metallica, Pantera, Guns N’ Roses and Tool among those lining up to play a tribute to Sabbath, with proceeds going to several charities.

“I said to Ozzy: ‘I don’t think we should do it.’ I said: ‘We should just let the other bands play our stuff, and us come out at the end and say thank you.’ But it was for a good charitable cause, and eventually we said okay.”

Iommi had last seen Ozzy when the two of them performed Paranoid at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The singer had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003, but only made his condition public in 2020 when his symptons worsened.

“I hadn’t seen Ozzy for a bit, and it was difficult seeing him like that,: Iommi says. “Fucking hell…”

Iommi didn’t want Ozzy to play a solo set before Sabbath’s closing performance either: “I was concerned he was going to blow himself out, and by the time we came on he’d be struggling.”

Elsewhere in our exclusive interview, Iommi talks about the making of his new solo album, From The Dark, and looks back over Black Sabbath’s long career.

The new issue of Classic Rock is on sale now. From The Dark will arrive on October 23 via BMG.

Toyah has updated fans about the film that’s being made about the Sunday Lunch performance videos she makes with her husband, King Crimson leader Robert Fripp. The clips have been delighting the internet since they debuted in a pandemic-stricken world in 2020.

In early 2023, Toyah wrote on her blog, “We have a New Zealand-based film crew following us from March onwards for 12 months for a full-length documentary about the phenomenon of Sunday Lunch and our relationship. They will be in our home and on the road with us. Surprisingly, Robert is completely open to this.”

Later the same year, Toyah told eonmusic that the movie was in pre-production but that it might “take years” for the script to be accepted, and now she’s updated the same website, saying that she “doesn’t know” the film’s current status.

“We shot a lot of stuff,” she says. “They’ve got to make the movie first. They’ve got the footage.”

The videos on Toyah’s YouTube channel have garnered almost 150 million views, with the most popular being the much-watched cover of Metallica‘s Enter Sandman. Since premiering in January 2021, the clip – which features Toyah performing while straddling an exercise bike – has been viewed nearly nine million times and generated more than 11,000 comments.

In barely related news, Robert Fripp and King Crimson manager David Singleton will be guesting on the BBC’s Between The Ears series on Radio 3 and BBC Sounds this Sunday (September 13) at 7pm UK time. The show, entitled A Circular History Of The Loop, will tell the story of tape looping using tape loops.

“Looping is the best way I know of making a lot of noise with one guitar,” says Fripp.