While health issues have kept Ozzy Osbourne off the road for the past five years, the metal legend has been prolific in the studio. After releasing new albums in 2020 and 2022, the Prince of Darkness is planning to hit the studio again in 2024 for “one more album.”
Between a serious fall at home in 2019 and his ongoing battle with Parkinson’s disease, it’s been a rough few years for Osbourne, and the news out of his camp in recent weeks had been a bit discouraging. First, he canceled his appearance at the highly anticipated Power Trip festival (set to take place next month), and then he said he needed yet another surgery to repair damage in his spine.
In a new interview with Metal Hammer, he revealed that he underwent the aforementioned surgery earlier this month, and is now eyeing a productive 2024.
“I’ve had all the surgery now, thank God,” he said. “I’m feeling okay – it was just dragging on. I thought I’d be back on my feet months ago, I just couldn’t get used to this mode of living, constantly having something wrong. I can’t walk properly yet, but I’m not in any pain any more and the surgery on my spine went great.”
Osbourne, who turns 75 this December, released the solo albums Ordinary Man in 2020 and Patient Number 9 in 2022, with producer Andrew Watt helming both LPs. The metal icon disclosed that he’s hoping to work with Watt once again on another album next year.
“I’ve done two albums fairly recently, but I want to do one more album and then go back on the road,” he revealed. “I’m just starting to work on it now, and we’ll be recording in the early part of next year. I want to take my time with this one.”
The idea of Osbourne going “back on the road” didn’t seem possible earlier this year, when he all-but-retired from touring. After canceling yet another leg of his “No More Tours 2” farewell outing in February, he stated, “Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way. My team is currently coming up with ideas for where I will be able to perform without having to travel from city to city and country to country.”
It could be possible that Osbourne may just play a series of one-off shows and festivals, as he had planned on doing at Power Trip. In the new Metal Hammer interview, he explained that the California festival was taking place too soon after his latest surgery. “If I can’t do the gig, I don’t really want to be there. Plus I know they’ll just be like, ‘Go on, get Ozzy up!’”
As it stands, Power Trip will take place October 6th-8th in Indio, California with Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Tool, and Judas Priest (who are taking the place of Osbourne). Tickets are available here.