Black Sabbath Cancels Coachella; Reunion Tour in Jeopardy?

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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The much-anticipated Black Sabbath reunion tour of 2012 may be put on hold. A rumor circulating in the festival industry says Tony Iommi’s unfortunate illness forced the band to cancel a headlining gig at Coachella in California.

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After the troubling news that guitarist Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma, multiple sources close to Billboard said Ozzy & Co. were booked to headline the annual Indio, California festival.

But with Iommi’s diagnosis and the out-pouring of support, the band pulled out of the mid-April performance and any other shows they may have been planning up to that point. The rumor is that the festival found a last-minute replacement headliner in the decidedly un-metal Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg.

Check out the full lineup for Coachella 2012 below (click for the full-size version) – any act appear really out-of-place?

Yeah, apparently the closing set was originally the Sabbath reunion show, probably their first of the year (or at least the first major appearance). It’s not hard to believe this is all true; Coachella is well-known for delivering classic reunions. Despite losing Black Sabbath this year, they still have old punk/hardcore bands Pulp, Refused and At the Drive-In to satisfy those tastes.

All reports indicate that this cancellation is actually an isolated move, and the rest of the band’s tour remains intact. But now that we know they were slated to headline a major festival, does that mean they will be at others? A gap in their tour dates between June 7 and June 10 suggests they could play Bonnaroo like Buffalo Springfield did last year.

It also indicates they will probably play outside at the Comcast Center if and when they come around here. In the meantime, we still need to wait patiently for those North American tour dates. Perhaps those will come in April and May?