Udo Dirkschneider of U.D.O. recently guested on One On One With Mitch Lafon. He discusses the band's latest album Navy Metal Night as well as this year's earlier release, Decadent, why release new music, his relationship with German metal queen Doro, having his son in the band, his 2016 goodbye to the Accept songs on tour as Dirkschneider, and much more. 

Dirkschneider: "I know that people like to hear Accept songs with my voice, but I want to close like a book. Sometimes you have to come to an end. I want to close up everything with Accept. I want to stop to be compared. Accept is still on tour. They are existing. They have a new singer. They are doing 'Balls...', 'Metal Heart'. I want to close the Accept chapter. In a way I was creating this band (Accept), but sometimes you have to say that's it. I have enough U.D.O. songs. I can play more U.D.O. songs and be U.D.O."

U.D.O. have confirmed a string of tour dates for South America this November. The schedule can be viewed below:

November 
13 - Sorocaba, Brazil - Pirilampus
14 - Limeira, Brazil - Bar da Montanha
15 - São Paulo, Brazil - Via Marquês
21 - Santiago, Chile - Kmasu Premiere
22 - La Paz, Bolivia - Discoteca Boliviana

At a press conference in the VIP tent of Wacken Open Air this summer, Dirkschneider dropped some bombshell news: The 62-year old cult musician announced his definitive farewell to the Accept song library.

On a special tour beginning in 2016, he will perform songs by Accept one last time before he retires them for good. During this Accept farewell tour, he will only showcase songs from the Udo-era of the band.

In the early 80s, the Solingen-raised singer skyrocketed to worldwide acclaim with the band Accept and with his unmistakeable voice he had several hits such as "Balls To The Wall", “Metal Heart“ and "Princess Of The Dawn".  

"I still love singing these songs live“, Dirkschneider says. "The songs are still an important part of my catalogue and still suit my voice very well. But at some point in your life, it's just time to close the chapter.  There has been so much talk and speculation about Accept, so I just want to give my last definitive musical statement about it and give my fans a chance to see me perform a complete concert of these songs one last time on stage.“

After this tour, Udo will only play songs from his extensive library of U.D.O. material. After being kicked out of Accept in the late 80s, he garnered many classic hits with his new band in a long and successful career, such as "Animal House", "Timebomb", and "Man And Machine".  

“There is enough high quality material to fill a two hour set with no problem,“ says Dirkschneider. “U.D.O. has been the band where I belong for 18 years and I want to pay tribute to them from now on.”

Udo will not perform this farewell tour under the name U.D.O. but simply as Dirkschneider. The first string of dates have been announced. The schedule is currently as follows:

February
19 - Stavanger, Norway - Folken
20 - Haugesund, Norway - Byscenen
21 - Bergen, Norway - Rick's
25 - Malmö, Swden - KB 
26 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Trädgårn 
27 - Sundsvall, Sweden - Folkets Hus 
28 - Stockholm. Sweden - Fryshuset Klubben

March
25 - Ostrava, Czech Republic - Garage 
26 - Zlin, Czech Republic - Masters of Rock Cafe 
27 - Prague, Czech Republic - Meet Factory