Tony Iommi surprised the audience at the premiere of Black Sabbath: The Ballet by performing Black Sabbath's Paranoid with the cast.
The guitar god, founding member of Black Sabbath and proud Brummie ripped through the band's timeless 1970 anthem as the cast danced around him, making for a memorable moment at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre.
Relive the instantly iconic moment by watching the fan footage below.
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director Carlos Acosta and Ballet Now commissioned the show, which features reimaginings of eight of Black Sabbath's most loved songs, interspersed with original works inspired by the Birmingham metal legends style.
Iommi had reportedly attended several rehearsals for the show. Following his big moment, Iommi took to Facebook to share his delight at the experience. Unfortunately for fans of the great man, Iommi confirmed won't be performing at every show."Thanks to everyone who supported us at the Ballet, we had a great premiere last night. I’m honoured to be involved with these talented dancers. I’m afraid I won’t be joining every performance.”
Iommi wasn't the only rock legend in attendance with classic Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and Electric Light Orchestra's (ELO) Bev Bevan also in the building to witness the moment.
Iommi was interviewed about the project by Birmingham World in April, during that interview he revealed that the experience of seeing Black Sabbath: The Ballet come to life had him looking at his own music in a different way.
“I’m looking at our music differently now with [the ballet], because it is being interpreted in a different way,” he said. “It’s still got the basic things, but then it did have in the different orchestral things coming in. And then I never thought for a minute we would have people dancing to Black Sabbath and ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Iron Man’. But here we are…”
Other Black Sabbath songs to appear in the show are Iron Man, Black Sabbath, Laguna Sunrise, Orchid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Solitude and War Pigs
Shop For Black Sabbath Merch
Listen to Black Sabbath
