Metal pioneers Black Sabbath have announced a farewell tour starting next year entitled The End.
The 'Paranoid' hitmakers will perform in Auckland and Dunedin in April after launching the tour in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 20.
The line-up will include classic band members Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitar and Geezer Butler on bass - drummer Bill Ward will not be coming along.
"It started nearly five decades ago with a crack of thunder, a distant bell ringing and then that monstrous riff that shook the earth," says a statement on the band's website of their self-titled 1970 debut album.
"In that moment, heavy metal was born, created by a young band from Birmingham, England barely out of their teens. Now it ends, the final tour by the greatest metal band of all time, Black Sabbath."
Black Sabbath are touring North America extensively in early 2016 before heading to Australia and finally New Zealand in April. More concert dates will be announced later.
They play Auckland's Vector Arena on the 28th and Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium on the 30th.
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