Black Sabbath, the British band often credited with creating the heavy metal genre of music, has announced its final tour.
Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler will begin “The End” tour on Jan. 20, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska and end U.S. shows at Madison Square Garden in New York in February.
They'll go on to tour across Australia and New Zealand.
Osbourne, who will turn 70 in December, told Metal Hammer that after the group's last album, "13," was released two years ago, the band started to discuss the possibility of completing one more album with a tour.
“If there's no more Sabbath, I want to get on with my own thing again,” Osbourne told his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne. “I ain't (expletive) 21 any more. If we're going to do it, I want to do it before I'm 70!”
After she made a few calls, Sharon reported that the record company was willing to do another album.
Osbourne, Iommi and Butler make up three of the four original Black Sabbath members. Bill Ward, the band's former drummer, has had an inconsistent presence with the group. Health issues and difference of musical opinion have been cited as reasons for his separation from the group in the past. It's unclear who will play drums during the 2016 tour.
