Ozzy’s back
‘Prince of Darkness’ brings his iconic metal to Isleta Amphitheater
“Icon” is an understatement when used to describe Ozzy Osbourne.
His vocals, music, and live performances have transcended generations of rock fans for several decades. Osbourne is on the road for his “No More Tours 2” tour, which makes a stop in Albuquerque on Sunday, Sept. 30.
The name of the tour might be slightly deceiving to some fans.
“I have to say this, ‘I’m not retiring!’ I’m just not doing world tours anymore,” he said in recent question-andanswer session. “I’m still doing gigs. I’m still going to do shows, just no more world tours. They’ll say, ‘You said you were going to retire on the No More Tours Tour 25 years ago,’ but I’m not retiring!”
The longevity of Osbourne’s career surprises him.
“I’m 70 this year (in December),” he said in the Q&A session. “I remember when I got my first Black Sabbath album. I was happy that I’d made an album. Then, the manager came in and said, ‘Your album got to No. 17 on the charts,’ and it stayed there for like two years. We were touring; we came to America; we experienced the world.”
Success came quickly for Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
“From the word ‘go,’ we were a big success,” he said. “We may have gotten royally ripped off by managers, but our lives had been changed for the better forever. Doing that last run with Black Sabbath, we ended the last show in Birmingham (England, 2017). It was a great end to a great career. Sabbath was the catalyst to where I am right now. It was a wish that came true beyond our wildest dreams. When ‘Paranoid’ went No. 1 in England, I thought, ‘This will only go on for a few years.’ And … we’re here 50 years later.”