The Prince of Darkness will be taking the stage for the last time. Ozzy Osbourne is planning two last shows in his hometown of Birmingham, England, after not performing and canceling concerts for the last several years as his health worsens. The rock legend’s wife, Sharon, who is also his manager, revealed the shows recently and gave more insight into her husband’s health and intentions with his final two performances at Aston Villa’s Birmingham stadium, Villa Park.
Ozzy, 75, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2003 but continued to write, record, and tour despite the diagnosis. The Black Sabbath singer suffered a near-fatal ATV injury in 2003 yet recovered from that to continue touring. However, in 2019, the “No More Tears” singer fell at home, requiring several surgeries to address injuries he sustained back in 2003.
Ozzy canceled his tour and said at the time: “This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to share with my loyal fans “As you may all know, four years ago this month I had a major accident, where I damaged my spine. My one and only purpose during this time has been to get back on stage.” Osbourne had a huge world tour planned at the time despite his age and declining health. Despite stem cell therapy and numerous surgeries, he couldn’t get himself back to the point where he could perform.
Ozzy continued: “I am honestly humbled by the way you’ve all patiently held on to your tickets for all this time, but in all good conscience I have now come to the realisation that I’m not physically capable of doing my upcoming European/UK tour dates, as I know I couldn’t deal with the travel required.” Still, the singer’s voice remained strong, and his desire to properly leave the stage for one last time still burned, leading to the announcement of the final two shows.
Wife Sharon shared the good news for fans, at least in England: “He won’t tour again, but we are planning on doing two more shows to say goodbye as he feels like ‘I have never said goodbye to my fans and I want to say goodbye properly.’ We will do it in Aston Villa where Ozzy is from.” Ozzy recently released a new album to critical acclaim in 2022 called “Patient Number 9,” and still intends to record even if he can’t hit the stage.
Sharon continued:“His voice is still absolutely perfect. And all the time he has been off he still does his singing lessons so his voice is perfect. And he can joke yeah. He has all these melodies in his head. Even if you don’t like his music you can’t not like Ozzy, he just draws you in.” Ozzy had previously reported that he wanted to attempt to tour again in 2024, but the final two shows apparently scuttle that possibility.
The “Mr Crowley” singer had said: “I’ve done two albums fairly recently, but I want to do one more album and then go back on the road.” Ozzy also released the well-received “Ordinary Man” in 2020, and the last two full-length offerings proved to fans that the Prince of Darkness could still sing and write as always. However, the desire to perform on stage has burned for Osbourne.
He said in an interview last year: “For whatever reason, that’s my goal to work to. To do those shows. If it’s at Ozzfest or somewhere, or even a f – – king gig at the Roundhouse. If I can’t continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, ‘Hi guys, thanks so much for my life,’ That’s what I’m working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I’ll die a happy man.” Music fans aren’t ready for Ozzy Osbourne to die quite yet, but some lucky fans will get to see his last two stage performances from a brilliant career.
Featured image screen grab from embedded YouTube video
"*" indicates required fields