‘I’ve had a s--- year’: Ozzy Osbourne cancels his No More Tears 2 tour
When Ozzy Osbourne does something he does it big.
And that, apparently, applies to canceling concerts for health reasons.
The veteran hard rocker has canceled his entire 2020 North American No More Tears 2 tour, which was set to begin May 21 in Atlanta and wrap in Las Vegas on July 31. The cancellation includes a May 29 date at Sunrise’s BB&T Center, the venue said in a release on Tuesday.
In a statement, Osbourne said the decision was made “to accommodate fans who had already been holding tickets for rescheduled shows and had been asked to change plans — some multiple times.”
Osbourne, 71, spent two months recovering from a fall in his home last year that required neck surgery. Then, in January, he told Good Morning America he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
“I’m so thankful that everyone has been patient because I’ve had a s--- year,” Osbourne said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get to Switzerland for treatment until April and the treatment takes six to eight weeks.”
Osbourne had hoped to get the tour underway because it was partly meant to promote “Ordinary Man,” his star-studded first solo studio album in nearly 10 years.
“It’s Murphy’s Law that when things can go wrong they do go wrong, and you just got to get on with it,” Osbourne said in a No More Tears 2 promotional video on Rolling Stone.
‘Ordinary Man’ album
The 11-song album, “Ordinary Man,” was released on Friday, Feb. 21, and features collaborations with Elton John on the title track, Duff McKagan and Slash of Guns ‘n Roses, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Post Malone.
If “Ordinary Man” should prove to be his final statement in a recording studio, the Black Sabbath co-founder is going out with his most personal set yet.
On the title song, Osbourne and John, 72, reflect on careers in rock music marked by plenty of highs — and not just of the popularity kind. Both men lived hard and spent much of the 1970s and 1980s consumed in cocaine and other addictions.
This autobiographical focus lends a poignancy to lyrics co-written by Osbourne.
“Yes, I’ve been a bad guy/Been higher than the blue sky/And the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man/I’ve made momma cry/Don’t know why I’m still alive/Yes, the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man.”
Other songs, like “Straight to Hell,” “Under the Graveyard,” “It’s a Raid” and “Scary Little Green Men” pair black humor, regret and mortality with some of the most infectious hooks Osbourne has committed to an album since “No More Tears” in 1991.
Then there is “Holy for Tonight” and its look at life’s last moments.
“What will I think of, when I speak my final words?/What will it feel like? And I wonder if it hurts/I’ve just got a mile and I can taste the kiss of death/What will I think of when I take my final breath?”
The album has earned some of Osbourne’s best reviews in decades.
“For someone who helped to invent modern metal, he’s held a stunning number of surprises up his cloak sleeve (see: a wildly successful solo career and genre-defining reality TV show). This rollicking album is yet another,” Britain’s New Music Express opined in a five star review.
“In ‘Ordinary Man’ ... you get what comes off as an almost Bowie-’Blackstar’-like farewell to friends and fans — albeit with its elegiac tones cranked up to 11, and its lyrics mixing the morose with the blackly humorous,” Variety’s review said.
All of this is to say it might have been intriguing to hear some of these new tunes performed on stage alongside oldies like “Crazy Train,” “Iron Man” and “Bark at the Moon.”
“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 said in a statement.
How to get refunds
This is how that will work, according to the BB&T Center:
Get your refund at the original point of purchase. All refunds, including fees, will be returned directly to the credit card used. “Ticketholders who purchased No More Tours 2 tickets will have first access to tickets when the next tour is announced,” the news release said.
No More Tears 2 is still scheduled to open its European leg in the UK in October and run through December, according to Osbourne’s website.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 3:34 PM.
