News
Tony Iommi fans! Support Dorians tune for Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Finals tomorrow by televote!
It was recently revealed that a song written by Tony Iommi has been chosen as Armenia’s entry into the Eurovision contest. Dorians frontman Gor Sujyan’s “Lonely Planet” has now made it to the finals!
Tony Iommi remarks: "Congratulations to my friends The Dorians on making it to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest tomorrow! Also thank you to everyone who supported them, don't forget, we need your help again on Saturday (May 18th)."
The finals for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 are being held in Malmö, Sweden, 18th May, and can be seen on BBC 3 in the United Kingdom (or Rai Due in Italy), at 21.00. Please support Dorians with “Lonely Planet” by televoting at the end of the show! It is possible to vote 20 times!
Let’s make Tony’s song win! Good luck, dear Tony!
17 May 2013
Photo Vertigo/Universal
Tony Iommi endorses Armenia!
Tony Iommi, co-writer of the Armenian entry in Eurovision Song Contest has officially endorsed the Armenian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, Lonely Planet, and encouraged fans to vote for the song.
The song will be performed by Dorians in the second semi final in Malmö on Thursday 16 May 2013.
Photo Lorraine Parker
16 May 2013
Black Sabbath Debut “End of the Beginning” on “CSI”
Black Sabbath fans jonesing for an early taste of the band’s upcoming “13” album got a treat last night (May 15), when Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler showed up to debut some new material on the season finale of “CSI”.
The band was shown performing the song in question, “End of the Beginning”, during a scene from the guest star-packed episode, which revolved around a mystery involving a serial killer whose obsessions with Dante and the Bible led to some rather gruesome ends for his victims. In spite of a showy appearance from cable movie mainstay Eric Roberts, who played a minister/pimp, Sabbath stole the finale with their performance (embedded above), which even included a bit of post-concert dialogue from Osbourne. You can watch the full episode of ‘CSI’ on CBS’ website.
Check out the video.
Read more on Ultimate Classic Rock.
If you can't see the CBS video in Europe, at least watch this short cut from Artisan News.
Jeff Giles for Ultimate Classic Rock, 16 May 2013
Black Sabbath fan filmed video footage of entire Perth concert, Australia, 4th May 2013
Fan filmed video footage of Black Sabbath's entire May 4 performance at the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia was published on Blabbermouth.net.
The band's setlist was as follows:
01. War Pigs
02. Into The Void
03. Under The Sun
04. Snowblind
05. Black Sabbath
06. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
07. N.I.B.
08. Fairies Wear Boots
09. Symptom Of The Universe (instrumental)
10. Drum Solo
11. Iron Man
12. God Is Dead?
13. Dirty Women
14. Children Of The Grave
Encore:
15. Paranoid (with "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" intro)
Blabbermouth.net, 14 May 2013
Tony Iommi: I'll be cheering on Armenia in Eurovision semis
Black Sabbath guitar hero Tony Iommi will be glued to the telly on Thursday – to see if his song makes it through to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The 65-year-old rock legend dusted off an old ballad titled Lonely Planet when Armenian broadcasting bosses came knocking at the door of his Lapworth home. Thankful for all the charity work Tony has done in their country, where he has spearheaded the rebuilding of a music school destroyed by an earthquake, they wondered if he had any spare songs.
And this week Armenian rocker Gor Sujyan and his band Dorians will belt out Lonely Planet in the semi-final of the contest. If it fends off stiff competition, the song will make it through to Saturday’s final.
“I was shocked when the riff I gave them to work with ended up being the country’s official entry in the competition, chosen by public vote from hundreds of songs,” says Tony, --“It was just a little ballad thing I’d written four or five years previously but never released. But on Thursday night it’ll be heard by millions of people when the semi-final is broadcast. And if it survives, and makes it through to the final, then that’ll great. Unexpected, but great. The contest is being staged in the Swedish city of Malmo and I’ll be watching to see how they get on. It falls between our tour dates so I’ll be able to watch it on television.”
Not that Tony regularly watches Eurovision. Far from it.
“I’ve always thought ‘Oh no, not the Eurovision’, and here I am in it now,” he smiles. “I first said ‘Oh God, I don’t know. It seemed really strange, me doing a Eurovision song, I don’t usually do that. But I really hope it does well.”
Tony’s music has had lyrics added by songwriter Vardan Zadoyan, and the song is a plea for world peace. It was one of four tracks presented to Armenian voters and won by a landslide. A competitor since 2006, Armenia has never won Eurovision – but the song is riding a wave of popular acclaim and if it makes the final could well beat the UK’s entry, Believe In Me by Welsh warbler Bonnie Tyler.
In the meantime, the music school being rebuilt in Gyumri, is expected to open in September.
“I’ve been working with the people in Armenia for some years, and we’re currently building a music school to replace the one that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1988,” says Tony. “We’ve had a huge amount of support. Only the other week a Canadian firm came in with a truckload of musical instruments. The school is due to open in September and I’m looking forward to getting back out over there for that. A big thank you to Tim and the team at Millbank Music in Canada for the huge pile of instruments now on their way to Armenia. With support like this the project was always going to be successful. When the school opens this summer they’ll be off to a great start!”
Among others closely involved in the project, under the banner WhoCares, is Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan, a close friend of Tony’s who also enjoyed a successful stint as Black Sabbath singer.
The Eurovision semi-final featuring Armenia is being broadcast by BBC3 at 8pm on Thursday, May 16. Stay tuned!
Read more on Birmingham Mail
Paul Cole for Birmingham Mail, 12 May 2013
Black Sabbath shown behind the scenes of upcoming “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” cameo
On Wednesday, 15 th May at 10PM EST, Black Sabbath will premiere the new track “End of the Beginning” on the CBS staple program. The episode follows the CSI team as they investigate a series of killings that the into the sins depicted within “Dantes Inferno”. The trail eventually leads actors Ten Danson and Marc Vann to a Black Sabbath concert.
The band made a behind-the-scenes clip showing themselves involved with the work with actors and stuff.
Check out the CBS video here
Read more on Loudwire
By Graham Hartmann for Loudwire, 10 May 2013
Tony Iommi star of Black Sabbath reunion show, says Australian review
It has been four decades since Black Sabbath and the Prince of Darkness hit the city of churches and thanks to guitarist Tony Iommi, it was worth the wait.
Arriving onstage shortly after 8pm, Black Sabbath, unlike its fans, were after an early night. Air-raid sirens rang out as the opening chords of War Pigs signalled the return of the hard rock juggernauts.
Iconic frontman Ozzy Osbourne shuffled around the stage putting on his best vocal performance of the night for the opening track, letting the crowd handle every second verse of the song. The stage was minimal. A handful of speakers backed by three screens focusing on Osbourne, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler. It was a greatest hits set to die for.
Snowblind, Black Sabbath, Fairies Wear Boots, Into the Void and Children of the Grave were but a few that had Ozzy, and the fans screaming. His vocals were quite often all over the place - for a man who has made a career out of singing along with the melody of the song, the frontman’s pitch jumped around as quick as Butler’s fretwork. With his vocals way up in the mix alongside Iommi’s guitar it was very easy to hear the bum notes. But no one cared - it was Sabbath. Fans were in the palm of Osbourne’s hand as he encouraged them to wave, scream and “go crazy”.
In between songs he was almost inaudible as his thick Birmingham accent washed over the audience, before the faint title of a song could be heard as an introduction.
Tommy Clufetos did a fine job standing in for Bill Ward, adding a thrilling drum solo to the hit-filled set. Osbourne continually rushed to a bucket of iced water in front of the kit to cool down in between songs before throwing it on the vocal audience as he left the stage.
The band returned for the finale of Paranoid, which cemented Iommi as the star of the show.
His seminal guitar lines are the basis for any hard rock act these days so it was no wonder the crowd saved its biggest roar for the veteran guitarist as he left the stage.
It was loud, dark and left your ears ringing for hours after the show and despite Osbourne not being at the top of his game, all was forgiven for these masters of darkness.
Sam Kelton for AdelaideNow, 8 May 2013
Iommi’s band finished the Australian leg of its world tour
Black Sabbath finished the Australian leg of its world tour over the weekend and now heads to Japan to play that country's first-ever Ozzfest on Sunday, May 12. A North American trek begins on July 25 in the Woodlands, Texas.
The band's setlist at Perth Gig was:
01. War Pigs
02. Into The Void
03. Under The Sun
04. Snowblind
05. Black Sabbath
06. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
07. N.I.B.
08. Fairies Wear Boots
09. Symptom Of The Universe (instrumental)
10. Drum Solo
11. Iron Man
12. God Is Dead?
13. Dirty Women
14. Children Of The Grave
Encore:
15. Paranoid (with "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" intro)
Quality photos of Black Sabbath's May 4 performance at the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia can be found at PerthNow.com.au.
Read more news about the band on Blabbermouth.net
Blabbermouth.net, 7 May 2013
Tony accepted his Revolver Golden Gods Riff Lord Award
Congratulations to our Iron Man!
Tony has accepted his well deserved Revolver Golden Gods Award in category "Riff Lord", presented by EMG. In fact if there is a Lord Riff on Earth, it can only be Sabbath's axeman.
His bandmates Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne were both present at the ceremony.
Watch the video on Revolver Golden Gods
Revolver, 4 May 2013
Photo Vertigo Records
