News

Ozzy Osbourne Confirms His U.S. Tour Is Postponed, Not Cancelled

Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tours II will go ahead in America when he's "100 per cent confident" that he can pull it off.

Ozzy Osbourne Confirms His U.S. Tour Is Postponed, Not Cancelled
Photo:
Jonathan Weiner

Ozzy Osbourne has clarified that his No More Tours II U.S. run has been "postponed" – and not cancelled as had previously been announced in a statement.

The Prince Of Darkness was planning to kick off the tour in May, but stated earlier in the week that he was going to Switzerland for medical treatment in April, with the process taking six-to-eight weeks.

Now, Ozzy says that he hopes to reschedule these North American shows when his condition improves, telling Radio.com: “I cannot go on the road until I'm 100 per cent confident that I can pull it off. ’Cause if I go out now and I can't carry on, people are gonna think that I've lost the plot. So I'm not gonna go out there until I can give them the show that I wanna give them, ’cause it's not fair to them."

Read this next: How Black Sabbath redefined heavy music

Speaking to Kerrang! about the well-documented struggles with his health lately, Ozzy said, “When I was laid up, my day to day was: I’d get up, take my blood pressure, take my temperature – I had a nurse 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for over a year. I couldn’t walk. It’s only in the past five months I’ve been walking again. I can’t describe how it was. You never know what you’ve got until you’ve nearly lost it. You can imagine what it’s like for someone like me who’s always got to be doing something. A day for me doing fuck all is a life prison sentence. I mean, you’re just lying there feeling fucking dreadful.”

Making his new solo album Ordinary Man, though, was exactly the sort of medicine the heavy metal legend needed to feel better: “We’d bounce the fucking melodies around until something came up, and we’d just go with it,” he enthused. “It was fun. And it was so fucking good to be doing something. Because I’d be lying in bed going, ‘That’s it, I’m never gonna walk again,’ and this got me doing something and feeling good. And it was simple, it felt more like recording a fucking jam session. It’s not like a Pink Floyd thing where you’ve got to take a tab of acid to enjoy it – just crank the fucking thing. Go for it!”

Ordinary Man is due out on February 21.

As it stands, Ozzy's UK and European No More Tours II leg is scheduled to go ahead later in the year. Get your UK tickets here.

October

23 Newcastle, Utilita Arena, UK
25 Glasgow, SSE Hydro, UK
28 London, The O2, UK
31 Birmingham, Resorts World Arena, UK

November

2 Manchester, Manchester Arena, UK
5 Dublin, 3Arena, Ireland
8 Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena, UK
11 Dortmund, Westfalenhalle, Germany
13 Prague, O2 Arena, Czech Republic
16 Vienna, Stadthalle, Austria
19 Bologna, Unipol Arena, Italy
22 Madrid, WiZink Arena, Spain
24 Zurich, Hallenstadion, Switzerland
26 Munich, Olympiahalle, Germany
28 Mannheim, SAP Arena, Germany
30 Berlin, Mercedes-Benz Arena, Germany

December

3 Hamburg, Barclaycard Arena, Germany
5 Stockholm, Friends Arena, Sweden
7 Helsinki, Hartwall Arena, Finland

Read this next: 11 great albums disliked by the people who made them

Check out more:

Now read these

The best of Kerrang! delivered straight to your inbox three times a week. What are you waiting for?