After months of speculation, it's official. Bill Ward will not play any live shows with Black Sabbath on their forthcoming reunion tour.
Bill Ward has posted an extremely lengthy statement on his website stating the following;
" I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won't be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012.It is with a very sad heart that I bring you this news. I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band, and I'm very, very sorry that it's fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality." Read the full staement here: http://www.billward.com/2012/05/statement-on-upcoming-black-sabbath-shows/#more-1428.
Interestingly the other members of Black Sabbath have not responded to the latest statement, nor do we know who will replace Bill Ward on drums.
