While Twin Cities metal fans were waiting for big news from another legendary band due in town next year, Black Sabbath surprised us today with the announcement of their final tour, the third date of which will be in Minneapolis at Target Center on Jan. 25. Three of the band's four original members are embarking on what's officially being billed as "Black Sabbath: The End," including the ubiquitous Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler.
Tickets to the farewell gig go on sale next Saturday, Sept. 12, at 10 a.m. through AXS.com and the arena's box office. Prices for the local date have not yet been announced, but seats in other cities range from about $45-$150.
Best known for the classic-rock staples "Paranoid" and "War Pigs" -- and pretty much the band most credited with pioneering heavy metal -- Sabbath also played Target Center on its 1999 reunion tour with all four original guys. Osbourne has performed there solo several times since, the last of which was in 2011. Iommi and Butler also played there in 2007 under the name Heaven and Hell with the late, great Ronnie James Dio on vocals, who replaced Osbourne in the band in 1980.
The lone Sabbath founder out, drummer Bill Ward, has been feuding with his bandmates since they put out the reunion album "13" without him in 2013. He said then that Ozzy's manager/wife Sharon Osbourne would not give him a quarter share of the band's earnings befitting an original member.
Here's the tour's monster-truck-pull-style promo video below.
