Buck Dharma looked back on Blue Öyster Cult’s co-headlining tour with Black Sabbath in a new interview with VRP Rocks. The guitarist shared:
“It was fun. Sabbath was managed by Sandy Pearlman at that time and I don’t think they enjoyed the experience. You know, it was the Sabbath with Ronnie Dio and Mr. Vinny Appice. They didn’t like supporting us because we would switch headlining and they considered themselves the bigger band than us. Other than that, it was great. We were always huge Sab fans.”
The ‘Black and Blue’ tour took place shortly after Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio took over as the lead singer. The two bands toured the United States together to promote ‘Heaven & Hell’ and ‘Cultösaurus Erectus’ albums, respectively.
The 1980 performances were popular and often entered Billboard’s ‘Top Boxoffice’ charts. A live video of the tour came out in theaters the following year.
Black Sabbath May Return
Ozzy Osbourne rejoined Black Sabbath in 1997, and they continued to perform until they disbanded in 2017. Osbourne revealed his hope for a reunion with original members Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Geezer Butler a few months ago.
Iommi and Butler agreed to a comeback but left the final decision to Ward, who didn’t take part in their farewell tour due to health issues. The drummer recently announced on Facebook:
“Hey ya; Bill Ward checking in regarding all the updates on a possible Sabbath show in England. I’m in for playing some of everyone’s old favorites. Loved playing them then, I’d love to play them one last time. I’m not going to talk about my health publicly except to say every day I’m pretty good for 76 years old, I’m active musically every day, and I have a very busy and gratifying life. Love you all, all the f*cking time.”
There are no official plans for a reunion show right now, though.
