It’s only fitting that the singer who chewed off a bat’s head would enter the twilight of his career borrowing an idea that came out of the bat virus.
Ozzy Osbourne announced early this morning that he’s canceling his remaining European tour dates, citing complications from a spinal injury four years ago. (Ozzy, you’ll recall, is that other Prince of Darkness, aside from Robert Novak.)
This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to share with my loyal fans… pic.twitter.com/aXGw3fjImo
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) February 1, 2023
Ozzy suggested his “touring days” as a whole are over but included this interesting detail: “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.”
Are we talking Ozzy on Zoom? Surely nothing so sterile, and maybe Ozzy is simply referring to putting on shows closer to home. But maybe he’s talking about rocking the livestream. I read this as another way that the Covid-19 pandemic changed our perception of remote work, and normalized it. If anyone can pull off remote rock concerts, it’s probably Ozzy — though he’d want a live audience on the set. As we saw with lockdown-era SNL, you lose a lot when the crowd gets zeroed out, and even Zakk Wylde couldn’t compensate for that. Either way, Ozzy’s fans will stay with him, however he decides to put out music.