Black Sabbath bench is online smash hit
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have watched Black Sabbath’s ‘heavy metal bench’ presentation, which was organised by Westside Business Improvement District in Birmingham.
Original band member and guitarist Tony Iommi accepted the bench from Brummie comedian Jasper Carrott in a ceremony at St Luke’s Gas Street Church, just off Broad Street, on Saturday.
Only 350 fans could fit into the building, but hundreds of thousands of people across the world have watched the ceremony after it was edited into one-minute video highlights for social media.
Mike Olley, manager of Westside BID which drove the bench project, said: “We knew there’d be huge interest and so our media consultant commissioned videographers to create special one-minute video highlights.
“When I last checked, these mini videos had been watched by more than 50,000 people via our @WestsideBID Twitter account alone, with tens of thousands more watching it via our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts.”
The uniquely designed steel bench – incorporating images of the band’s original four members – will eventually be placed on the renamed Black Sabbath Bridge across the canal on Birmingham’s Broad Street.
Tony said: “The bench looks amazing and I think it’s fantastic for Birmingham to recognise us after all the years and all the work we’ve done,
“It’s so nice to see all the fans here, and see people come from abroad and all round the world. They’re just brilliant fans.”
Jasper, who chairs Westside BID’s Walk of Stars project, said: “Throughout the world, Black Sabbath and Birmingham go together and this bench has brought massive publicity for the city.”
Mike Olley of Westside BID added: “It gives Birmingham a new dimension, a little bit like you have in Liverpool for the Beatles. We’ve now got something for Black Sabbath in Birmingham.
“And I’ve got no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, people will have day trips up to the city now just to have their photographs taken on the bench, and to celebrate Sabbath. It's wonderful.”
Black Sabbath super-fan Mohammed Osama came up with the original ‘heavy metal bench’ idea and this was turned into a project by Westside BID.
Egyptian artist Tarek Abdelkawi created images of Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. This was applied in steel by Etch Components from Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, with the final manufacture by Gateway Steel Fabricators, based in Tyseley, Birmingham.
