Late last week Metallica advised fans to mark their calendars and now we know why. The metal titans have announced their very own summer music festival dubbed Orion Music + More.As a further treat to fans Metallica will perform their self-titled ("Black") album in full during one night of the event and their acclaimed sophomore album "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.
But fans shouldn't expect Ozzfest as the diverse lineup features a hand selected eclectic group of performers including Avenged Sevenfold, Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Cage The Elephant, F**ked Up, Best Coast, Hot Snakes, Titus Andronicus, Gary Clark Jr., Lucero, The Black Angels ,The Sword, A Place to Bury Strangers, Liturgy, and Roky Erickson.
The festival is set to take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 23rd and 24th and will also be a "life style" festival that goes beyond music.
"We've had the idea of doing our own lifestyle festival with lots of diverse music and fun and games for years," said Metallica 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, 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."