Heavy-metal legend Ozzy Osbourne has canceled his entire 2020 North American “No More Tours 2” farewell tour.
All tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. No makeup dates are planned — at least not for now — by Osbourne, whose new album, “Ordinary Man,” is due out Friday.
The reason for the cancellation, according to a statement issued Tuesday morning, is to enable the 71-year-old singer “to recover from various health issues he has faced over the past year.”
Osbourne announced in January that he has Parkinson’s disease, although he more recently disclosed that he has been aware for years of his diagnosis.
“I’m so thankful that everyone has been patient because I’ve had a s–t year,” Osbourne said in his statement. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get to Switzerland for treatment until April and the treatment takes six-eight weeks.
“I don’t want to start a tour and then cancel shows at the last minute, as it’s just not fair to the fans. I’d rather they get a refund now and when I do the North American tour down the road, everyone who bought a ticket for these shows will be the first ones in line to purchase tickets at that time.”
Osbourne had originally been scheduled to perform his “No More Tours 2” farewell show in San Diego in late 2018 at what was then Mattress Firm Amphitheatre and is now North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre. That show was postponed, along with other tour dates, after he suffered an infection after undergoing hand surgery.
In April, Osbourne canceled all his tour dates for that year, including his July San Diego makeup concert, in order for him to recover from an injury he suffered in a fall while recovering from a bout of pneumonia. The fall, which aggravated injuries he suffered in a 2003 ATV accident, required him to undergo surgery in March.
Osbourne’s now-canceled 2020 North American tour had been scheduled to begin May 27 in Atlanta and conclude July 31 in Las Vegas.
To hear Osbourne tell it in a 2018 Union-Tribune interview, however, his farewell tour was not a farewell tour. Never mind that it was billed exactly that way at the time on his website and in press releases issued by his publicist.
“This is not a retirement tour!” Osbourne insisted at the time.
“I should have called this the ‘No More World Tours Tour.’ In the future, I’ll got out on the road and tour only in Europe, or only in South America, or only in North America. All I’m going to be doing differently is not doing world tours, and not going out on the road in January and not coming back until December. I have a family. I’m slowing down, but I’m not retiring. I’m (expletive) 70!”
