Ozzy Osbourne Cancels Entire 2020 Tour Due To Medical Reasons

Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne has cancelled all of his planned tour appearances in 2020, citing medical reasons. Earlier this year, the rocker opened up about having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and dealing with the medical fallout from that. Now, it seems, that fallout is broadening to such an extent that he needs to step back from the stage to evaluate his next move. The tour, ironically titled the “No More Tours 2” tour, was cancelled “to allow him to continue to recover from various health issues he has faced over the past year,” according to a representative for Osbourne.

The rocker recently sat down with Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts to set the record straight about his health struggles. After an online scare that had declared him nearly dead, Osbourne decided to make his diagnosis public.

“I’m so thankful that everyone has been patient because I’ve had a shit year,” said Osbourne 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. 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.”

Refunds for ticketholders are available thorugh the original point of purchase and will be returned, including fees, directly to the credit card used to purchase the tickets. As Osbourne suggests, prior ticketholders will have early access to tickets when his next tour is announced.

“It’s been terribly challenging for us all,” Osbourne said at the time of his Parkinson’s revelation. “I did my last show New Year’s Eve at The Forum. Then I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves.”

“A year ago next month I was in a shocking state,” he continued. “I got a numbness down this arm for the surgery, my legs keep going cold. I don’t know if that’s the Parkinson’s or what, you know, but that’s — see, that’s the problem. Because they cut nerves when they did the surgery. I’d never heard of nerve pain, and it’s a weird feeling.”

Besides his Parkinson’s diagnosis, Osbourne has been suffering from a number of other ailments, such as pneumonia and injuries from a fall at his home. At 71, it is not especially uncommon for some of these things to go hand-in-hand and one malady to lead to a few. Last year, he postponed his 2019 tour dates in April, setting the stage for his decision to cancel this time around.

“It’s PRKN 2,” said Osbourne’s wife and manager, Sharon. “There’s so many different types of Parkinson’s; it’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. And it’s — it’s like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.

“The thing is, as Ozzy said before, it’s very hard for doctors to go, ‘Well this is your injury from your fall, and this is what comes with PRKN 2,’” she added. “And we’ve kind of reached a point here, in this country, where we can’t go any further, because we’ve got all the answers we can get here. So in April, we’re going to a professor in Switzerland, and he deals with getting your immune system at its peak. We’re going to go wherever we can go to seek answers.”