Brian May got ‘a bit emotional’ watching Ozzy and Iommi play again

Brian May has admitted that he got a touch emotional watching his old friends and Black Sabbath legends Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi playing together at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

He also called the performance ‘epic’.

The Queen guitarist probably spoke for many of us when he responded to a post Iommi made on his official Instagram.

He reposted the clip of the performance, alongside which Iommi had written simply, “Thank you #Birmingham #CommonwealthGames2022”.

May added: “That’s the way to do it !!! Must say I got a bit emotional seeing Ozzy and Iommi on stage together again. Epic !!! Bri.”

Osbourne and Iommi made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremony, alongside former Black Sabbath live members Adam Wakeman (on bass; formerly Sabbath's touring keyboardist) and Tommy Clufetos (drums).

The band started playing the intro to ‘Iron Man’. Osbourne could be heard goading the crowd but wasn’t visible until he rose from the stage to huge cheers.

They then played ‘Paranoid’ in its entirety.

May’s friendship with the members of Black Sabbath goes back decades.

Speaking to the BBC last year, Iommi chose May as his ‘Rock God’ and recalled their earliest meetings.

He said: “It was in the early ’70s we first met. I don’t know if it was in the studio. I actually can’t remember.

“Does he know where we first met? We had a very fast connection and we used to talk to each other at all hours of the night in the early days.”

“We had a jam session once. He came down to one of our rehearsals when we were rehearsing in London, and we started playing with the band and the band gradually left, and Brian and myself were just left playing there.

“All the gear had gone except for our gear, and we were still playing.”

Watch: May and Iommi playing together at Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, 1992

Iommi continued: “Yeah, so we’ve had a great friendship over the years. But the thing is with him, he loves his guitar – he’s always got his guitar with him and he’s playing.

“And when he comes to my house, I’ve always got a guitar there for him so we can have a little play.”

Planet Rock's Queen Symphonic concert in photos

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• brian may
• Queen
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Tony Iommi
• Black Sabbath