After two years of running the Orion Music + More Festival, Metallica will take 2014 off from the two-day fest to tour Europe instead. It is unclear if the festival will return in 2015, according to Billboard.
The metal group started launched the multi-artist/multi-genre festival in 2012 in Atlantic City, N.J. and then held the 2013 edition in Detroit. The fests featured acts from all different formats of music hand picked by the band members, as well as attractions that focused on each of their personalities, including car shows, horror film tents, etc.
Back in September, Metallica lead singer James Hetfield told Billboard that he was pleased with how the second iteration went: “We loved it. I think it went smoother than the previous one.”
Even so, he added that the band and promoter, C3 Presents, weren”t sure if they were ready to commit to further festivals. “It’s the money part, man, at the end of the day… We know that festivals don’t make money right away, for sure. It’s not that we’re out to make money; we’re at least out to break even, and it certainly has not broken even yet. It’s an expensive barbecue at this point.”
With more dates to be added, Metallica has already announced six shows for its Spring/Summer European tour.