For years, Metallica has brought their music directly to the fans with endless tours. Now, with the launch of the metal act’s own festival Orion Music + More, the fans can come to them.
Today, the quartet took to LiveStream to announce their weekend-long event, to take place in Atlantic City, N.J., on June 23-24. The band will close out both nights, and have tapped other bands like Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold and Modest Mouse to play throughout. The band has also promised to play “Ride the Lightning” and the eponymous “Black album” in their entirety — that marks the first time they’ve done the latter on U.S. soil.
Tickets go on sale for Met fan club members tomorrow (Feb. 8). The general onsale starts Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. EST. The options include a 2-day regular pass ($125 fan club or $150 general) and a 2-day Ultra pass ($225 and $250), with access to special viewing areas and hangouts.
“Any band would wanna be able to have their own festival and make it what they want,” said James Hetfield. The crew hopes to integrate their own special interests outside of music — like custom cars, surfing, film and skate culture — into the weekend.
The band looked to festivals like Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands for “diversity,” thought the majority of the acts tend toward hard rock, mostly dudes and mostly white.
Still, you can tell its a festival for fans, seemingly unmarred (or less so) by label or corporate lobby. The setting includes hotels, bars, casinos and beaches, so I can see how it’d be an incredible “experiential” weekend. Lars Ulrich literally used the words “soaking up the vibes” in his description.
Acts like Wilco and Dave Matthews Band have launched their own festivals in recent years, and it’s smart for artists of their caliber to do so. Destination festivals can be a source of big money, and artist-curated bills can be fun for the fans. In this way, Metallica can visit with the diehards without having to tour cross-country.
This roster looks especially tasty, with inclusion of Immaculate Noise favorite Liturgy, psych-holiness the Black Angels, top tenners Fucked Up, recently reunited Hot Snakes, beer-tearers Lucero and New Jersey’s own The Gaslight Anthem. Still waiting to see if Modest Mouse is actually going to produce something this year.
Orion Music + More may also be an ample opportunity for Metallica to shoot some of that 3D movie they’ve been talking about.
As the Orion Music + More festival’s unofficial motto goes, “Buy a ticket, f*cker.”
Here are the other acts confirmed to perform, with more to come: Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Cage The Elephant, Fucked Up, Best Coast, Hot Snakes, Titus Andronicus, Gary Clark Jr., Lucero, Roky Erickson, The Black Angels, The Sword and Liturgy.