Final Black Sabbath tour planned for “next year”

There’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing on the subject of Black Sabbath’s final touring schedule recently, but now the Prince of Darkness has set fans right: it seems like the band’s final run of shows will take place in 2016.

According to Metal Hammer, the band’s frontman Ozzy Osbourne appeared at the Monsters of Rock press conference in Brazil to clarify the current situation. “The plan is that next year we’ll do the final Black Sabbath tour and album,” he was quote as saying. “I’m not stopping… my wife spends all my money so I can’t.”

While stating that those plans “could change,” he did go on to assure fans that one final tour would be taking place. “We all live in different countries and some of them want to work and some of them don’t want to, I believe. But we are going to do another tour together.”

His new comments come following the confusion caused when the band “announced” that their final show together would take place at the Tokyo leg of Ozzfest on 22nd November 2015. Since then, their performance has now become a set by just ‘Ozzy (and friends)’.

Black Sabbath are still due to release a final album, following on from their 2013 LP ’13’, with Rick Rubin producing. “We’re disbanding the name and everything. They don’t want to tour anymore,” Ozzy Osbourne recently said, explaining the band’s farewell run. The Ozzfest Japan sendoff was previously announced by Sharon Osbourne, back in March.

Ozzy’s solo show will take place at the Makuhari Messe venue, which sits just outside Tokyo. Korn will be headlining the former evening of the event, on 21st November.