Bill Ward has nothing but gratitude to show following the final Black Sabbath performance at the Back to the Beginning concert. What Bill Ward Said About Black Sabbath’s Final Show Ward was back behind the drums for Black Sabbath for the first time since 2005 when the band wrapped things up at Villa Park in Birmingham,

Bassist Terence “Geezer” Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, and drummer Bill Ward were all between the ages of 18 and 20 when they began playing together in Birmingham. Naming themselves after an Italian horror film in early 1969,

Ward has an on-and-off history with Black Sabbath and was the only original band member who did not play on their final album, 13, which was released in June 2013. The album, which was the English rock band’s first studio release in 18 years, featured Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler with drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine.

Butler played a five-song set with his fellow Sabbath founders – Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward – at Back To The Beginning on July 5. The event was a star-studded all-dayer that took place at Villa Park, the home turf of the bassist’s beloved Aston Villa football club, in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham.

A year later, they'd slimmed down, found a new name and invented heavy metal. Few bands are so inextricably linked with a musical genre, but Sabbath set the template for everyone from Motörhead and AC/DC to Metallica and Guns 'n' Roses.