During a recent appearance on “SiriusXM,” BLACK SABBATH guitarist Toni Iommi looked back on the band’s 1985 reunion for the Live Aid.
Iommi said: “It was great — it was great being with the guys again. It was a bit surreal, to be honest, because… Basically, I had been in the studio working, and it was an unusual thing for me to come from the studio, and then suddenly, here we are – in the next couple of days – on stage, in front of all the people.
“We’d never really done that before. We’d always sort-of rehearsed for a proper show for a while,” he continued. But this was a quick rehearsal for an hour or whatever it was, and then the next day, of course, on stage. So it was a bit unnerving because you don’t know how things are gonna go with the equipment and all this stuff. We hadn’t been on stage together for so long. You have to sort of suck it and see what’s gonna happen.”
Discussing the rehearsals for the show, Iommi said: “It was a bit of a disaster, really, to be honest. They had a room booked for us to rehearse. We started rehearsing and then we started talking about the old times; so most of the rehearsal was talking.
“And the time when we did rehearse, it was a closed session, and it would be embarrassing really because I saw these two girls come in at the back of the room,” Iommi continued. “And I said to one of our crew, ‘Look, there’s people walking in,’ you know, ‘you better tell them to get out, this is a private rehearsal.’
“Anyway, he goes up and tells them and it turns out to be Madonna. So it’s a bit embarrassing. But anyway, we had the rehearsal and then went back to the hotel.”
“On the night before the show, we went back to the hotel and of course, we all ended up in the bar, and that was another disaster because we had a bit too many to drink,” he added. And then the next day, of course, I had a dreadful hangover when we were on stage.”
