In an interview with Radio.com, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler discusses the band's original drummer, Bill Ward, and his absence from the band’s The End tour. An excerpt follows:

But with this being the last tour, is there any shot at a resolution with Ward? Perhaps he could join them for a few songs at their final concert September 16 in Phoenix?

“It’s been mentioned to him,” Geezer Butler confirms. “But he doesn’t want to do it. He wants to do the whole tour or nothing. We’d love him to come on at the very last gig and be part of the whole thing, but he didn’t want to do that. And I understand: I wouldn’t want to be asked to come out just for the last gig. It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is.”

Ozzy Osbourne adds, “If he’s there, he’s welcome [to play]. But I don’t really want to talk too much about Bill Ward! Because every time I do, he starts getting pissed off at me! Things are quiet between us right now, you know?”

Butler continues: “It’s a shame that Bill won’t be a part of it, but whatever happened, happened. It’s great that at least the three of us can end it on a high note and be friends together.” He adds, “I still get on with Bill, I saw him last year at some award show. We got on great, we had a laugh together. It’s not personal, as Bill would say, it’s business.”

Read more at Radio.com.

Black Sabbath kicked off The End Tour on January 20th at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, NE. A new, special limited CD, The End, is being sold exclusively at the shows and features eight previously unreleased tracks, four songs are outtakes from the Black Sabbath’s worldwide #1, Grammy-award winning album 13 and four live songs from the band’s 13 World Tour. Fans have taken to the internet posting the four unreleased songs on YouTube. They are available for listening below.

The End tracklisting:

“Season Of The Dead”
“Cry All Night”
“Take Me Home”
“Isolated Man”
“God Is Dead?” (Live Sydney, Australia 4/27/13)
“Under The Sun” (Live Auckland, New Zealand 4/20/13)
“End Of The Beginning” (Live Hamilton, ON Canada 4/11/14)
“Age Of Reason” (Live Hamilton, ON Canada 4/11/14)

“Season Of The Dead”:

“Take Me Home”:

“Cry All Night”:

“Isolated Man”:

The CD features Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar) and Geezer Butler (bass), along with Brad Wilk (drums) on tracks 1-4, Tommy Clufetos (drums) on tracks 5-8, and Adam Wakeman (keyboard) on tracks 5-8. Tracks 1-4 were recorded at Shangri La Studios in Malibu, CA and produced by Rick Rubin, mixed by Andrew Scheps at Punkerpad West and recorded by Greg Fidelman. Tracks 5-8 were recorded and engineered by Greg Price and mastered by Robert Vosgien at Capitol Studios Mastering.

Fan-filmed video can be viewed below along with the setlist from the Omaha show (and presumably for the tour):

"Black Sabbath"
"Fairies Wear Boots"
"Tomorrow's Dream"
"Into the Void"
"Snowblind"
"War Pigs"
"Behind the Wall of Sleep"
"N.I.B."
"Hand of Doom"
"Rat Salad"
"Iron Man"
"Children of the Grave"
"Dirty Women"
"Paranoid"

Geezer Butler tells Rolling Stone that nothing is preventing the band from recording new music.

"There's nothing stopping us from doing another album after the tour,” says Butler. "We just couldn't possibly spend three years in the studio and then do a final tour," he says. Then he adds dryly, "We'll probably all be dead by then."

The band was discussing the possibility of another new record before The End Tour, but Butler was against the idea. “I was just being logical," the bassist says with a laugh. "At the time, we were given six months to write and record an album and I said, 'There's absolutely no way we can do it in six months.'" He laughs. "Then they came up with, 'Well, you can do a blues album,' you know, just eight 12-bar blues songs and that's it. It's like, 'No. This is Black Sabbath. It's not the Earth blues band anymore.' It was ridiculous."

Black Sabbath have released the full video taking you behind the scenes of rehearsals for their final tour ever. Check it out below:

Beyond the collaboration with Shepard Fairey, Black Sabbath will celebrate artists each night of the tour by commissioning exclusive posters for each market on The End tour. An example of the artwork is below:

On the heels of their much-anticipated performances in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, Black Sabbath will end the epic journey they began nearly five decades ago with another run of North American dates in fall 2016. These shows will follow a mix of summer headlining and festival performances throughout Europe.

The second run of North American dates kicks off August 17th at Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York and includes stops at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (where the band last performed a sold-out show on their wildly successful 13 world tour in 2014), Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, and Dallas, among others, before wrapping September 21st at AK-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, AZ.

The massive 2016 world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time marks The End for Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler as they close the final chapter in the final volume of the incredible Black Sabbath story with this tour. Black Sabbath's The End farewell tour promises to surpass all previous tours and will feature the band's most mesmerizing production ever. An updated video announcement can be found below.

When this tour concludes, it will truly be The End, The End of one of most legendary bands in rock 'n roll history... Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath's 2016 Tour Dates are as follows:

January
22 - Chicago, IL - United Center
25 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center
27 - Winnipeg MN - MTS Centre
30 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall Centre

February
1 - Calgary, AB - Scotiabank Saddledome
3 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena
6 - Tacoma, WA - Tacoma Dome
9 - San Jose, CA - SAP Pavilion
11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
13 - Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay
15 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
17 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
19 - Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills
21 - Hamilton, ON - First Ontario Centre
23 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
25 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
27 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

April
15 - Perth, AU - Perth Arena
17 - Adelaide, AU - Entertainment Centre
19 - Melbourne, AU - Rod Laver Arena
23 - Sydney, AU - Allphones Arena
25 - Brisbane, AU - Entertainment Centre
28 - Auckland, NZ - Vector Arena
30 - Dunedin, NZ - Forsyth Barr Stadium

June
1 - Budapest, Hungary - Groupama Arena
8 - Berlin, Germany - Waldebuhne
11 - Donington, UK - Download
13 - Verona, IT - Arena Di Verona
15 - Zurich, Switzerland - Hallenstadon
17 - Dessel, Belgium - Graspop
23 - Halden, Norway - Tons of Rock
25 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Copenhell
28 - Vienna, Austria - Stadthalle
30 - Prague, Czech Republic - 02 Arena

July
2 - Krakow, Poland - Tauron Arena
5 - Riga, Latvia - Riga Arena
7 - Helsinki, Finland - Monsters of Rock
9 - Stockholm, Sweden - Monsters of Rock
12 - Moscow, Russia - Olympisky Arena

August
17 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
19 - Philadelphia, PA - Susquehanna Bank Center
21 - Washington, DC - Jiffy Lube Live
23 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
25 - Boston, MA - Xfinity Center
27 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
29 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
31 - Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theater

September
2 - Indianapolis, IN - Klipsch Music Center
4 - Chicago, IL - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion
9 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Ampitheater
11 - Salt Lake City, UT - USANA Ampitheater
13 - Portland, OR - Sunlight Supply Arena
15 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
17 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
19 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl
21 - Phoenix, AZ - AK-Chin Pavilion

Details on Tickets, VIP packages and more for the North American shows can be found at Livenation.com.