Watch Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ Birmingham Performance

Due in part to the fact that guitarist Tony Iommi is still recovering from chemotherapy treatments for cancer, Black Sabbath performances have been few and far between, which makes the fact that video has surfaced from their Birmingham performance earlier this year all the sweeter.

The band played their hometown of Birmingham as a warm-up show for their Download performance, and their return was a triumphant one. The O2 Academy performance was a hot, sweaty show with a drenched Ozzy Osbourne leading the band in front of 4,000 fans.

The band’s first performance in seven years was missing drummer Bill Ward (as Tommy Cluefetos sat in for the show), but they still played a powerful set rocking that included such favorites as ‘War Pigs,’ ‘N.I.B.,’ ‘Sweet Leaf,’ and ‘Paranoid.’

It’s ‘Paranoid’ that ended the night and drew one of the biggest responses and that’s the song that has turned up online (and can be seen below).

With Iommi recuperating, Ozzy Osbourne has been playing a number of “Ozzy & Friends” performances, but the full Black Sabbath lineup (with Cluefetos still behind the kit) will perform at Lollapalooza next weekend.

Watch Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ Performance