METALLICA, in conjunction with friends C3 Presents, today announced the creation of Orion Music + More, a new annual music, arts, and lifestyle festival founded and headlined by the band, a natural progression for a band that has headlined legendary festivals around the world for years. Orion Music + More will take place June 23-24 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
"We've had the idea of doing our own lifestyle festival with lots of diverse music and fun and games for years," said METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. "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, California, 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 lineup for Orion Music + More will span multiple musical genres. From punk to country, over 20 bands will perform.
Regarding how the bands were selected to perform at Orion Music + More, Ulrich said, "Music, to us, is really diverse; it covers all grounds. If you took the four of ours;' iPods and scanned through those, you would find the biggest variety and diversity of music, so we're trying to bring that spirit to this festival."
He added, "A lot of the European festivals, and certainly also Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo and so on, in outside lands in America, these festivals are really about diversity and about different experiences. You go there, you go check out bands you don't know a lot about, you go check out bands where it will be the first time you'll experience them. So there's a whole big pile of stuff — from punk to thrash to country to, sort, of alternative, straight-ahead rock, blues. But it's really about diversity."
The METALLICA Met Club fan club presale starts tomorrow, February 8 at 10 a.m. (Eastern) and runs through Friday, February 10 at 10 p.m. (Eastern). Met Club members get first dibs on buying festival tickets and with a couple of options to choose from.
* A Super Special Price at $125 including all fees for a 2-Day pass OR
* The Met Club Ultra 2-Day Pass, which includes Front of Stage Viewing Area Access, Exclusive Ultra Lounge Access & More for $225 including all fees!
Tickets will go on-sale to the public on Saturday, February 11 at 10 a.m. (Eastern) for $150 for a 2-Day Pass including all fees.
The festival billing is shaping up as follows:
METALLICA
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
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
LITURGY
For more information, visit
http://www.orionmusicandmore.com.
