Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne opens up about his turbulent injury and illness-filled year.
With Ozzy Osbourne seemingly on the road to recovery after recent bouts of illness and injury, the metal legend has opened up about just what he's been through, detailing the pain and frustration that meant he had to cancel all remaining dates of his 2019 No More Tours II.
Having taken a fall back in January, Ozzy has spoken about how serious his subsequent injuries were, spending two months recovering from neck surgery after tripping over on a shoe in the middle of the night. Previously, wife and manager Sharon spoke of the extent of the damage, revealing that "years ago, previously, he had a motorbike accident, where he was in a coma for days. And what he’d done was, he re-injured his back and neck and shoulders. All of the metal rods and everything that were put in his body were dislodged."
Now, Ozzy tells Rolling Stone: “For the first, say, four months, I was absolutely in agony. I was in agony beyond anything I ever experienced before in my life. It was awful. I’m taking physical and occupational therapy classes, but the progress is very slow. They say it’s going to take at least a year. I’m hoping that I’ll be okay and ready to go by January [when the tour resumes]. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed.”
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Discussing the grizzly details (which is certainly not for the faint-hearted) he explains: “When they do surgery on your neck, they cut through all the nerves, and it fucked everything up. So I’m wobbling all over the place. And since they cut through the nerves, my right arm feels permanently cold. You’d get a warm feeling in your hands. I wake up with it, and I go to bed with it.”
Ozzy also expressed his frustration towards the slow process of recovery. “It’s like, come on. My date is January, I hope to fucking God, ’cause I’m gonna go fucking nuts," he says. "We’re just keeping our fingers crossed. It’s like making a sculpture. You chip away at it and it turns into this thing. You have to re-sculpture your life again.”
Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery, sir!
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Catch Ozzy Osbourne on the road at the following UK and European dates next year:
January 2019
31 Nottingham, UK Motorpoint Arena
February 2019
2 Dublin, IE 3Arena
5 Manchester, UK Manchester Arena
7 Newcastle, UK Utilita Arena
10 London, UK The O2
12 Glasgow, UK SSE Hyrdo
14 Birmingham, UK Resorts World Arena
17 Dortmund, DE Westfalenhalle
20 Helsinki, FI Hartwell Arena
22 Stockholm, SE Friends Arena
24 Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena
26 Vienna, AT Stadhalle
29 Prague, CZ O2 Arena
March 2019
3 Hamburg, DE Barclaycard Arena
5 Munich, DE Olympianhalle
7 Mannheim, DE SAP Arena
10 Bologna, ITL Unipol Arena
13 Madrid, ES Wizink Arena
16 Zurich, CH Hallenstadion
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