Ozzy Osbourne has announced that after 5 decades of performing, he's retiring from the global stage in a massive 2-year farewell world tour. Ozzy just recently performed with his legendary heavy metal band Black Sabbath for the last time and that show is now being released on DVD. Ozzy embarked on an insanely successful solo career after he split with Black Sabbath in a haze of drugs and alcohol, which with the help of MTV, made Ozzy Osbourne into a household name and heavy metal icon. The 68-year old singer has decided that now is the time to give it one last go around.

The legendary singer-songwriter and reality TV star announced the first leg of his two-year farewell world concert tour earlier this week. It will begin May 5th in Mexico and conclude July 2nd in Lisbon, Portugal. The specific city and venue in Mexico have yet to be announced. Next up, a six-week European leg of headlining solo dates and festival performances that's set to launch Friday, June 1st, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. The beloved metal icon will subsequently headline a North American concert tour produced by Live Nation, details of which will be revealed in 2018.

For these dates, Ozzy will be joined by longtime collaborators Zakk Wylde (Guitar), Blasko (Bass), Tommy Clufetos (Drums) and Adam Wakeman (Keyboards) for the world tour that will last 2 years. Ozzy Osbourne will turn 69 on Dec. 3rd. Even with the announcement of his farewell tour, he appears to be leaving the door open for at least some periodic future performances. "People keep asking me when I'm retiring," he said in a statement released earlier this week. Ozzy said, "This will be my final world tour, but I can't say I won't do some shows here and there."

Ozzy Osbourne was in his late teens when Black Sabbath was launched in Birmingham, England. The band's self-titled 1970 debut album helped propel the four-man band to international stardom and heavy metal creators. Three of the group's four original members, Ozzy, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, concluded Black Sabbath's The End farewell tour with two shows in Birmingham in early February that have just been recently released on home video and streaming services. Though the band is also done touring, the band may still continue to write and record new music.

This is not the first time Ozzy Osbourne has announced the end of his days as a touring artist. Back in 1992, he called it quits after his "No More Tours" tour, which is a pun based on the title of his then-most recent solo album, No More Tears, with his solo band. Black Sabbath also reunited for the first time in over a decade during the No More Tours tour to play a few songs, which sparked the full reunion of the band a few years later. As for Ozzy's solo career, it started up again 3 years later. So, who knows if this is really the end of the road for the aging rocker. For information on the tour, check out OZZY.com.