Bill Ward heart problem leads to tour cancellation

Bill Ward
Bill Ward

Former Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward was hospitalised over the weekend with a heart problem.

Ward reports that he’s “OK and in good recovery” but has cancelled his upcoming live shows with his band Day Of Errors in light of his health scare.

Ward says in a statement: “It’s with great, great sadness that I must tell you I have to cancel the Day Of Errors tour dates scheduled in December. I wound up in hospital this past weekend with heart problems.

“I am OK and in good recovery at this time. However, I’ve never experienced this particular type of heart problem before, and due to its nature, I had to make the decision to cancel the dates.”

He adds: “I want to send my sincere apologies to everyone who was planning to come out to the shows. I’m so sorry we won’t be making it – I was looking forward to seeing you all and sharing this music with you. I’ll be in touch soon.”

The seven shows were due to take place in the US from December 7 and ticket refunds are now available from the point of purchase. The dates will not be rescheduled.

Ward bowed out of Black Sabbath’s reunion just months after it was announced in 2011 saying he hadn’t been offered a contract he regarded as “signable.” That led to a war of words, particularly between him and frontman Ozzy Osbourne.

However, in June this year, Ward reported that he was “at peace with those guys” and said he wished them “nothing but the best in their lives.”

He added: “I don’t in any way have any grudges or any arrogance or anything else. It’s been like that for a while.”

Find a list of the cancelled Day Of Errors tour dates below.

Day Of Errors cancelled 2017 tour dates

Dec 07: Eugene WOW Hall, OR
Dec 08: Seattle High Dive, WA
Dec 09: Portland Dante’s, OR
Dec 12: San Francisco Great American Music Hall, CA
Dec 13: Santa Cruz The Catalyst, CA
Dec 14: Ventura The Garage, CA
Dec 15: San Diego The Casbah, CA

Bill Ward on the early days of Sabbath and drumming on LSD

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.