Black Sabbath confirms initial dates for 2012 reunion tour

A week after announcing their reunion, the original members of Black Sabbath late last week delved into details for the European leg of their 2012 reunion tour.

Frontman Ozzy Osbourne and bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward initially confirmed only one show — June 10 at the Download Festival in England — during their November 11 press conference. But the revelation of 16 more concerts followed later on November 18.

At present, the routing opens with a May 18 performance at Olympiiski in Moscow, Russia, and continues through a June 24 event at Fiera De Milano in Milan, Italy. The full itinerary is below, and ticketing details are available on Black Sabbath’s official Web site.

In its tour statement, Sabbath promises that the European itinerary is “only the beginning” of a much larger world tour that prefaces their first new album in more than 30 years. The yet-unnamed record is slated for a fall 2012 release stateside, though it is unclear whether it will follow or coincide with any planned U.S. concert dates.

Black Sabbath was founded by Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward in 1969, but that original lineup fell apart with Osbourne’s 1979 firing. Ward departed the band a year later, giving way to decades of lineup shifts and shake-ups.

Most recently, the Black Sabbath moniker was reincarnated for Osbourne’s vanity touring festival, Ozzfest. All four original band members participated at times from 1997 through 2006.

Since 2006, Osbourne has mainly remained focused on his own work and solo performances. Meanwhile, Iommi and Butler reunited with another Black Sabbath incarnation — involving Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Vinny Appice on drums — to tour on-and-off as Heaven and Hell.

Black Sabbath itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)