“It’s so different, and something you couldn’t expect, neither did I,” says Iommi in an interview with Channel 4.
In September, the new ballet set will be launched – where the Birmingham Royal Ballet meets Black Sabbath. The dancers will perform ballet to eight of the hard rock band’s songs, including “Paranoid”, “Iron man” and “War pigs”. The rest of the music is newly composed, but inspired by the band.
Iommi, who along with director Carlos Acosta is behind the initiative, admits to Channel 4 that he has never been to ballet before. He is overwhelmingly positive about what he has seen.
When asked if Iommi thinks the ballet could inspire hard rock fans to like ballet, and ballet fans to appreciate hard rock, he replies:
“I really hope so. I mean it’s an unusual combination, but you have to take the turns. Hopefully you get everyone involved.”
The ballet set will be performed at the Birmingham Hippodrome between 23 and 30 September. It then continues on to Plymouth Theater Royal and Sadler’s Wells in London.