Black Sabbath reunited their original lineup on November 15, 1992, at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California, for the finale of Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tours run. Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward joined Osbourne after his solo set for four songs. It was the quartet’s first performance together since Live Aid in 1985.
Osbourne’s planned retirement gave the occasion its farewell billing, with two Costa Mesa concerts closing the tour. Getting Sabbath onto that bill involved two different versions of the band: the musicians playing the support slot and the original lineup assembled for the final encore. Sabbath were finishing the tour for Dehumanizer, their reunion album with Ronnie James Dio. Dio refused to play the support dates, leaving Iommi and Butler to recruit Rob Halford for the two shows. Vinny Appice played drums during those sets; Ward joined for the reunion with Osbourne.
Halford described the hurried preparation in a 2022 interview with Metal Hammer. Once Iommi sent over the setlist, he pulled out his Sabbath records to prepare. He also asked whether they could bring back some songs they hadn’t played for a while. Before the California dates, he rented a rehearsal room in Phoenix. “We ran through the set once and then it was off to California,” he recalled. There was room for mischief, too: Halford remembered Iommi disappearing as they headed toward the stage, leaving him to walk out alone before Iommi and Butler followed, laughing.
Osbourne’s own finale covered both his solo career and his Sabbath years. His 14-song set opened with “Paranoid,” included “War Pigs,” and finished with “Crazy Train,” immediately after “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” Then the original Sabbath lineup took over for “Black Sabbath,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.” That last song therefore appeared twice during Osbourne’s portion of the evening, first with his solo band and then with the musicians who had recorded it with him.
Part of the reunion reached a wider audience through Live & Loud in 1993. Both Osbourne’s live album and the concert film included the reunited band playing “Black Sabbath.” The larger releases drew on performances from 1991 and 1992, so they weren’t complete recordings of the Costa Mesa finale. The Sabbath performance gave those releases a record of the original quartet’s return alongside the material played by Osbourne’s solo band.
The retirement didn’t last. Osbourne returned to touring in 1995 under the name Retirement Sucks. The original Sabbath quartet also had more shows ahead: their Birmingham concerts in 1997 provided the live recordings for Reunion, released in 1998. Costa Mesa’s four-song appearance was followed by a return to full concerts together.
