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Ozzy Osbourne is as eager to get back on tour as ever, but his limited mobility resulting from three spinal surgeries in recent years continues to frustrate him.
"My head is alright, my creativity is okay, my singing's okay, but I just can't f---ing walk much now," Ozzy said in a recent conversation on his Ozzy Speaks radio show. "I can't tell you how f---ing frustrating life has become... I've never been this ill this long in my life."
Ozzy's latest operation was this past June. Ahead of the procedure, his wife Sharon Osbourne said the success of the surgery would "determine the rest of [Ozzy's] life."
The operation was deemed a success and Ozzy surprised the world when he appeared onstage with his fellow Black Sabbath cofounder, Tony Iommi, at the closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, to perform "Paranoid."
A month later, Ozzy was back onstage in at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, performing a two-song set at halftime of a Rams/Bills Thursday Night Football game to promote his latest album, Patient Number 9.
Despite the success of those gigs, the Prince of Darkness indicates he's a long way from being strong enough for a full concert, let alone a tour.
His long-delayed 'No More Tours 2' farewell tour is scheduled to resume in Europe in May. Ozzy's last full-length headlining concert was December 31, 2018. His battery of longterm health problems beset him early the following year — 2019 — when he was hospitalized with pneumonia for several weeks and then injured his neck in a trip-and-fall at home.
The following January — 2020 — Ozzy revealed that during recovery from his spinal injury, he had also been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Ozzy has released two successful studio albums, 2020's Ordinary Man and 2022's Patient Number 9, since he's been incapacitated, but what he wants more than anything continues to be a return to the stage.
"I really miss being with the kids," he added. "I want to be out there, I want to be doing it. ... It's amazing how one stupid thing can screw everything up for a long time."