Ozzy Osbourne says 2020 tour not cancelled, only “postponed”

(Image credit: Epic Records)

Ozzy Osbourne has said that his North American tour has only been “postponed”, not cancelled.

The Black Sabbath icon was due to kick off rescheduled No More Tours 2 trek in Atlanta on May 27, but he announced that the dates had been “cancelled” to allow him seek medical treatment in Europe

Speaking to Radio.com, the singer clarified that the US dates had not been cancelled and that he intends to reschedule the dates when he is well enough to perform them.

Ozzy said: “I cannot go on the road until I'm 100 percent confident that I can pull it off. Cos 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, cos it's not fair to them."

He didn’t reveal when the tour would be rescheduled. Ozzy’s UK and European tour with Judas Priest which is due to start in October remains unaffected and will go ahead as planned. 

The vocalist is still getting back to full fitness after his fall at home last year, which led to the cancellation of his entire 2019 touring schedule, and his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease.

Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy's wife and manager, says his fans are behind him, after the vocalist was forced to cancel his North American tour for a second time earlier this week.

Speaking on her CBS show The Talk following the announcement, Sharon said: “We spoke to the doctor Ozzy is going to see in Switzerland. He looked at Ozzy's itinerary and he said, ‘You're going to be here for a while.’”

Sharon indicated that the treatment could be as long as eight weeks, adding: “The treatment that he has builds up and builds up – he can't do it and leave, so we have to stay there a while.” 

Asked what the reaction has been like from the fans, Sharon replied: “I went online and I thought, 'Oh, lord, he's going to get so much flack for doing this again,' and those fans are behind him.”

Dave Everley

Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.