Music News

Metallica announces plans for new music festival

By Patrick Luce Feb 7, 2012, 20:13 GMT

Metallica to headline new Orion Music + More festival and to play "The Black Album" and ‘Ride The Lightning’ in their entirety. @Photo provided by BB Gun Press.

Metallica, in conjunction with friends C3 Presents, announced the creation of the new music festival Orion Music + More to be held at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on June 23rd and 24th.

The new annual festival will feature music and arts, and was described as a natural progression for a band that has headlined legendary festivals around the world for years.

The lineup for Orion Music + More will span multiple musical genres. From punk to country more than 20 bands will perform - including 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, Liturgy, and more to be announced in the coming weeks.

In a press release, Lars Ulrich stated: "We've had the idea of doing our own lifestyle festival with lots of diverse music and fun and games for years. Finally this year all the practical ducks lined up in a row, and we are beyond psyched to bring Orion to our fans, friends and the curious. After the most incredible of weeks ever in December 2011 celebrating our 30th anniversary at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, bringing the spirit of that week, the looseness of that week, the possibilities of that week, the fan interactive elements of that week, and the (fill in your own blank here) of that week to a festival setting is so exciting we can hardly contain ourselves."

Orion Music + More will feature multiple live music stages plus a lifestyle element that reflects each of Metallica's band members many personal interests. 

Metallica will headline both nights of Orion Music + More and play "The Black Album" in its entirety one night ‘Ride The Lightning’ in its entirety the other.  This will be the only time the band will perform these albums in North America in 2012.  

The Metallica Met Club fan club presale starts tomorrow - February 8th at 10am (Eastern) and runs through Friday, February 10th at 10pm (Eastern).  Met Club members get first dibs on buying festival tickets and with a couple of options to choose from.

Tickets will go on-sale to the public on Saturday, February 11th at 10 am (Eastern) for $150 for a 2-Day Pass including all fees.  Visit www.orionmusicandmore.com to buy tickets.