6/22/2012
 Four and a half months after announcing it, Metallica launches the Orion Music + More festival this Saturday and Sunday (June 23rd and 24th) at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The first festival completely created and curated by Metallica itself, the "lifestyle" event will feature a wide range of music as well as other activities and exhibits that reflect the personal interests of the members of Metallica. Drummer Lars Ulrich told us that he's curious to see how the festival goes over: ["I feel that this will work. I know I'm gonna have a great time (laughs). Whether anybody else thinks it's gonna work, you know, we'll find out. And if it does work, obviously we would love to bring it back to the southern Jersey Shore every year. I think it has a shot at working, and if it does, then we would love to just keep making it cooler and cooler every year."] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . cooler every year.)
- Orion Music + More's multiple live music stages will feature acts like Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Cage The Elephant, Best Coast, Kyng, Gary Clark Jr., Lucero, Roky Erickson, The Sword and others.
- Metallica will headline both nights, playing 1991's self-titled "black album" in its entirety one night and 1984's Ride The Lightning the other. This will be the only time the band will perform these albums in North America in 2012 and the first time Ride The Lightning has been performed from front to back.
- Exhibits relating to the personal hobbies of the members of Metallica will include a custom car show by James Hetfield, a film festival tent hosted by Ulrich, a horror memorabilia display from guitarist Kirk Hammett and a surfing exhibit by bassist Robert Trujillo.
CHECK IT OUT: Selected performances from this weekend's Orion Music + More festival, including both of Metallica's headlining sets, will be streamed live via Fuse TV's YouTube page. Other acts whose sets will be streamed include Lucero, Gaslight Anthem, Modest Mouse, Best Coast and Eric Church. Watch the performances at http://www.youtube.com/user/fuse/
|