Black Sabbath are in the midst of their 'The End' farewell run, having officially locked down a final date in February of next year. It has been suggested frontman Ozzy Osbourne will be retiring by the time he reaches 70 (he'll be 68 in December), but the "Prince of Darkness" had a differing stance when discussing the end of Sabbath and his career overall.

Speaking with Billboard, Osbourne said it was Tony Iommi's plan to do 80 shows, though he "wouldn't mind extending the tour for another few gigs." Reflecting on the tour, the finality has not yet sunk in as he said, "It's great. I'm having a blast with it. Right now I'm okay with it. I'm sure as it starts counting down to five shows left or something, it's gonna be kind of emotional, I think."

Looking back to the very beginning of the band, Ozzy continued, "I mean, we started off as four guys from Aston who had a dream and it became true beyond our wildest dreams. And then we were manipulated, we were ripped off, we were conned, all of the above. We lost each other within each other, if you like. But it's great to have got this back just to end on a high note, y'know?" Members have been wavering when discussing the possibility of another studio album, but one thing that is certain is that these are indeed Black Sabbath's last shows ever. "It's not me that wants to retire; it's Black Sabbath," the singer went on.

Sharon Osbourne recently declared her intent for Ozzy to retire before reaching 70, but he appears to have other plans in mind, stating, "I'll be continuing my own musical thing. My wife is good at telling me partial information, y'know, but I know I'm not hanging 'em up for awhile. Being Ozzy Osbourne solo again is not a job. It's a passion. It's a love. It's the biggest, greatest love affair of my life."

No concrete plans are in place regarding a follow-up to Osbourne's 2010 solo effort Scream, though something is reportedly in the works down the pipeline. Epic Records president Sylvia Rhone told Billboard, “It’s going to be a really special album. It’s going to be amazing, it’s something Ozzy has never done before that he’s always wanted to do.”

Black Sabbath will be hitting North America for the second leg of "The End" tour, beginning on Aug. 17. A full list of stops can be found at our 2016 Guide to Rock + Metal Tours.

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