Tony Iommi was the guest of honor at supergroup The Hollywood Vampires’ recent Birmingham, UK show (July 11) – joining fellow guitarists Joe Perry, Johnny Depp and Tommy Henriksen onstage for a performance of Black Sabbath classic Paranoid.
The metal guitar legend lives in West Midlands of the UK, still within striking distance of the city he’s always called home. Iommi’s been off the road for a while now, but judging from his fine fretwork in the footage, seems to have enjoyed the chance to jump onstage and flex his chops again.
The Hollywood Vampires are based around a core lineup of Joe Perry, Johnny Depp, Tommy Henriksen and Alice Cooper and have no shortage of famous friends, but even the celebrity supergroup seems a little awed by Iommi’s presence.
Fan footage caught the final minutes of Iommi’s appearance at the city’s Utilita Arena and in the clip above you can hear Cooper tell Iommi: “[You’re] an official Vampire now! Thank you so much. It’s a great honor of ours to have you up here.”
Later, Cooper took to Instagram to share pictures of the band hanging out with Iommi backstage.
Outside of touring life, Iommi has had plenty to occupy himself, of course. There’s reportedly a new solo album in the works, an appearance in a documentary on riffs and he recently became an old fossil – after a 469 million year-old condodont species was named after him...
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