Ozzy Osbourne takes farewell tour with Megadeth to Hersheypark Stadium on June 8
From a press release:
After kicking off his North American farewell world tour in Allentown in August, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Ozzy Osbourne has announced additional North American tour dates for 2019, including a stop at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey on Saturday, June 8, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
For these shows, Osbourne will be backed by his longtime collaborators Zakk Wylde (guitar), Blasko (bass), Tommy Clufetos (drums), and Adam Wakeman (keyboards). Grammy-winning, multi-platinum-selling thrash metal band Megadeth will be the supporting act for this entire North American run.
“No More Tours 2,” a reference to his 1992 “No More Tours” trek, launched in May of 2018 in Santiago, Chile with solo shows in three countries, followed by a six-week European leg of headlining solo dates and festival performances. His North American tour with platinum-selling hard rock band Stone Sour began at the PPL Center in Allentown on Aug. 30, with the final four shows of that leg of the tour postponed for Osbourne to recover from an infection. Those four shows will now conclude the 2019 dates.
The trek will also include a newly announced June 11 stop at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Prior to his 2019 dates, Osbourne will headline a special New Year’s Eve Ozzfest spectacular at the Forum in Los Angeles.
Tickets, which start at $24.60 (processing fees apply), go on sale this Friday, Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. and will be available at the Giant Center box office (550 Hersheypark Dr., Hershey), online at hersheyentertainment.com and ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 717-534-3911 or 800-745-3000.
On his farewell world tour, produced by Live Nation, Osbourne will celebrate more than five decades as a performer, both as a solo artist and as lead singer of Black Sabbath, which formed in 1968. This tour, expected to take him around the world with dates into 2020, will mark the end of global touring for the legendary artist, though he will continue to perform select live shows in the future. Throughout his career, he has sold more than 100 million records.
“People keep asking me when I’m retiring,” Osbourne says. “This will be my final world tour, but I can’t say I won’t do some shows here and there.
“I’ve been extremely blessed to have had two successful music careers,” he continues. “I’m looking at this final tour as being a huge celebration for my fans and anyone who has enjoyed my music over the past five decades.”
This will mark the first time Megadeth will join Osbourne for a full tour, although they have performed together previously at Ozzfest and other festivals around the world. Megadeth burst onto the scene 30 years ago, virtually inventing a genre with their debut album “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!” (recently recognized by VH1 as the “Greatest Thrash Metal Debut Album of All Time”). The band sold more than 38 million albums worldwide, earning numerous accolades, including a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the title track of their 15th studio album, “Dystopia;” garnered 11 additional Grammy nominations; received a Silver Clio for their “Dystopia” campaign; and scored five consecutive platinum albums, including 1992’s two-million-selling “Countdown to Extinction.”
At 69 years old, Osbourne is a multi-platinum recording artist, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and a three-time Grammy-winning singer and songwriter who has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide. His career has spanned more than 50 years as a successful solo artist and as the founding vocalist of Black Sabbath, which formed in 1968, and his music is as relevant today as ever, still being heard daily on television, in movies, on the radio, and at stadium sports events.
In 2011, Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath and, in June 2013, after more than three decades of waiting, the band released their critically acclaimed album “13” (Vertigo/Republic), which entered the charts at No. 1 in 13 countries. Produced by seven-time Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin, “13” features original Sabbath members Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler. In 2014, the group won a Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category for the album’s first single, “God Is Dead?”
In May 2014, Osbourne was honored with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his dedication and support of the MusiCares MAP Fund at the 10th anniversary MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert. Later that year, he was presented with the Global Icon award at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards in Glasgow. This year also marks 20 years since Osbourne created his name-sake hard rock/metal touring festival Ozzfest, which has had a hugely successful run across North America, Europe, and Japan.
In January 2016, Black Sabbath began “The End” farewell tour, signifying the final performances of the legendary heavy metal band. The last shows took place at the Genting Arena in their home city of Birmingham, England in February 2017.
The wristband policy will be in effect for this concert in Hershey. Fans are permitted on the Hersheypark Entertainment Complex property beginning at 7 a.m. on Nov. 9. Two hours prior to the on-sale, fans will be directed in front of the Giant Center box office, where they will be issued a numbered wristband. Wristbands are available for one hour and, at the conclusion of that hour, a selected fan will randomly choose a wristband that will determine the line order. Once the line is in place, fans arriving after the wristbands were issued will be escorted to the end of the numbered line.
See NEPA Scene’s photos and review of Megadeth playing in Bethlehem in 2016 here and see more photos of Megadeth at Rock’N Derby in 2016 here.
