Tony Iommi It Was Hard Filming Upcoming Black Sabbath DVD Because We Really Saying Goodbye

Tony Iommi says that it was “really strange” to be “saying goodbye” to his BLACK SABBATH bandmates after the completion of the group’s farewell tour.

SABBATH finished its year-long “The End” farewell tour on February 4 in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, closing out the quartet’s groundbreaking 49-year career with an emotional 15-song set.

Speaking to Red Carpet News TV at this past Monday’s (June 12) Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in London, England, Iommi stated about SABBATH‘s final performances: “I think the whole tour, for us, was great, but the last shows were — because we knew they were gonna be the last shows… it didn’t quite sink in properly until sort of afterwards. And even afterwards, because we’d done three days of filming after that for the DVD, so we were still together. But after the three days of filming, that was weird, because we were saying goodbye to each other, and it was really strange. But to see the crowd on those last shows was spectacular. There was people from all over the world and all the emotions coming out. I mean, you could see it from where we were. [It was] fantastic.”

Iommi recently said that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of doing one-off shows with SABBATH or even more recording. “I wouldn’t write that off, if one day that came about,” he said. “That’s possible. Or even doing an album, ’cause then, again, you’re in one place.”

The band decided to make this tour its last because Iommi, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and is currently in remission, can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.

The original lineup of SABBATH came together in 1969 with Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Geezer Butler on bass and Bill Ward on drums. That lineup recorded and toured through 1978, and periodically reformed through the ’90s and 2000s for live work.

They regrouped again in late 2011 for a new album and tour, although Ward dropped out after a few months over financial issues. SABBATH has used Ozzy‘s regular touring drummer Tommy Clufetos since then for live work. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE‘s Brad Wilk laid down the drum tracks on the album “13”, which came out in June 2013.

Iommi and Butler haven’t announced any specific post-SABBATH plans yet, but Osbourne is reportedly at work on a new album, and already has a number of solo shows scheduled for this summer.