Last December, in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Entertainment, metal legend Ozzy Osbourne said, “I just want to get back to that scene. I have to come back to this scene. It drives me crazy, not being able to. … It’s not a job, what I do. It’s a passion.” At the time, the 74-year-old metal legend had planned to resume his long-delayed No More Tours II tour in the spring of 2023, but a month after speaking with Yahoo, he announced that he was officially retiring from touring due to a spinal injury from 2003 which he re-aggravated in 2019.
However, in his January 2023 statement, Osbourne clarified that his team was “coming up with ideas of where I can play without having to travel from city to city and country to country” – and that solution appeared to be next October. Power Trip Festival. Held in Indio just a three-hour drive from Osbourne’s home in Los Angeles, the metal festival was set to feature Osbourne performing on a co-headlining project with AC/DC on Saturday. But now Osbourne has taken to social media again with a disappointing update, revealing he’s still not good enough to play so soon.
“As painful as it is, I had to make the decision to withdraw from Power Trip in October,” Osbourne announced on Monday. “My original plan was to return to the stage in the summer of 2024, and when the offer to do this show came, I moved forward with optimism. Unfortunately, my body is telling me that I’m just not ready yet and I’m way too proud to be half-ass the first show I’ve done in nearly five years. The band that will be replacing me on Power Trip will be announced shortly. They’re personal friends and I can promise you won’t. You won’t be disappointed. Above all, I want to thank my fans, band and crew for their unconditional loyalty and continued support. I love you all and see you soon. God bless you, Ozzy.
Osbourne has performed twice in 2022 – in August at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in his hometown of Birmingham, England, and at the NFL kick-off in September at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles – but he only sang two songs at each event. His last sold-out show was on New Year’s Eve 2018 at the Forum in Los Angeles, and it was after that gig that the “locks opened”, leading to the health issues he unfortunately now faces during “the most long period of sickness in my life”. .”
“You can go to bed, wake up tomorrow, and you might be different,” Osbourne told Yahoo Entertainment last December. “Around 2003 I had this quad accident, didn’t I? But I got out of the hospital and kept working. Then I found out I had Parkinson’s disease So I figured it all came down to Parkinson’s, as all these things started to wash over me. Four years ago, I did a New Year’s show at the Forum. I came back to home here, and I got up to use the bathroom at night. Never turn on any lights. I went to the bathroom, came back, and thought in the dark, “Well , my bed must be pretty much there.” And I jumped on the bed – but it wasn’t there. I miscalculated. I landed very badly on the floor. I just fell flat and I lay there. And I said, ‘Sharon, you better call the doctor, an ambulance, because I think I broke my neck.’ I knew I had landed really badly, so I lay there until the ambulance arrived.
“It turned out that since the accident in 2003, I had damaged my spine. It pinched my nerves. I had all these malfunctions. I was walking weird and whatever, but it wasn’t because of Parkinson’s – it turns out I had crushed the tube where the spinal cord goes, and there was this pressure,” Ozzy continued. . “And so, I went to the hospital and this guy said to me, ‘If you don’t have surgery, you have a good chance of being paralyzed. Sorry, but you have to do the operation.
Sadly, Osbourne didn’t get a second opinion and he told Yahoo he deeply regrets having the recommended surgery in 2021 which involved inserting 15 screws into his spine. “[That surgeon] worked completely wrong. … I got out of surgery and have been paralyzed ever since,” he said. “And I just thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s going to take a little longer to get back to normal.’ But it never came to fruition. I walk better now, I’m a little better than before, but I still have a long way to go. It’s amazing what something so silly and simple can do. for the rest of your life. It’s crazy. I’ve had nothing but trouble for the last four years. … I’ve had two surgeries since to fix what that guy did, but the damage done by that surgeon were worse [than the Parkinson’s].”
Osbourne had what his wife Sharon described as another ‘life-changing’ operation in June 2022, and last December he was in physiotherapy, ‘where they put these bionic legs on you – it’s a Japanese thing “. At this point, Ozzy optimistically stated that he was “about 70% better”, but apparently he still needs more time to get back to 100%. However, the rock ‘n’ roll survivor told Yahoo Entertainment, “Considering all the things I’ve gotten away with over the years, I can’t really complain. … You name it, I Been there, done it, and survived. Eventually he grabbed me and bit my butt, but it didn’t kill me. And I’m not going to stop. . I could say, let’s call it a day, but I can’t stop. There’s no such thing as a good gig, and there’s no such thing as a bad gig — because “A bad concert makes you want to do a good concert, better than before! A good concert is better than any sex or drugs. There is nothing to compare.”
Power Trip will take place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, the same site as the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals, from October 6-8, with Guns N’ Roses and Iron Maiden playing Friday and Metallica and Tool playing Sunday. Osbourne’s replacement for Saturday’s roster will be announced shortly.
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