At a press conference in the VIP tent of Wacken Open Air this summer, legendary metal singer Udo 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.”

The musician 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