Tony Iommi’s Health is NOT the Reason for Black Sabbath Cancelation at Ozzfest Japan

Phew! As soon as we learned that Black Sabbath wouldn’t being playing Ozzfest Japan this coming fall as had been previously announced, speculation ran rampant that perhaps Tony Iommi’s ongoing battle with lymphoma could be the cause. Thankfully — very thankfully — that’s not the case.

Metal Insider tipped us off to a Facebook post by Iommi himself assuring the world that his current state of health is just fine:

Thank you for all the enquiries about my health, very kind. I’m not sure how the rumour of my being unwell started as I was away on holiday! Once you’ve had something like lymphoma the fear that it will return never leaves, all I can say is that right now I’m fine and have regular blood tests.

That’s a huge relief.

But we’re still left wondering why Sabbath pulled out of Ozzfest Japan to be replaced by Ozzy’s solo band. It could be that there’s trouble afoot in the Sabbath camp, but it could also be something as simple as Geezer Butler’s nephew is getting married that weekend and he just can’t miss that. Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.