Metallica have defended the festival they are launching after complaints that the lineup was too indie for their metal audience.
The newly announced Orion Festival lists the likes of Arctic Monkeys on its lineup, which some fans considered unusual given Metallica's stance in the metal world.
"This whole thing is kind of based more around the classic festivals that we've been playing in Europe for the better part of the last 25, 30 years, which is really about diversity and really about kind of many, many different musical experiences," he told The Pulse Of Radio (via Blabbermouth). "Now whether anybody buys into that or not, we'll find out, but there's gonna be lots and lots of cool, heavy stuff, trust me."
Orion will take place at an abandoned airport in Atlantic City, where Metallica will perform their "Black Album" and 1991's "Ride The Lightening" in full.
The event will be run by C3 Presents, the team behind Lollapalooza.
"I don't think any of us know what's going to happen, but it's going to be pretty cool," said Charlie Walker from C3 Presents. "Buy a ticket, f--ker!"
Watch Metallica talk about Orion Festival here:
Will you be attending Orion Festival, or did Metallica sell out to mainstream audiences with their lineup choices? Share your view in the comments.
Ah, look what we have here. Elitists being morons as usual. I'm not even going to answer the question at the end.
Sounds good to me! Where else would I see Best Coast, Fucked up, Modest Mouse, The Sword, Gaslight Anthem and Metallica in one place? The line up is diverse, refreshing, and insanely awesome. If I could go, I would definitely go.
Close minded metalheads being intolerant about music. How's that news?
Not really. I can't imagine too many Indie hipsters would be very "open minded" about Cannibal Corpse being on the bill before Arctic Monkeys at a festival.
If I go to a Metallica festival I expect to see similar bands. Indie is like the complete opposite of Metal. I mean that's like Having Slayer open for Bon Jovi. Sure I love both bands but they don't really go together.
I don't see why people are actually surprised by this. Metallica sold out their metal roots long ago. Having said that I think the bands they chose should make for a great show. People wouldn't find fault with this lineup except for the fact that Metallica is the one putting this thing together and headlining it.
i would rather go to an indie festival with good, creative music than a metal festival where you can't distinguish one song from another...
You can say that about any genre of music. If you are listening to it for the sheer purpose of saying it sucks, of course you're going to think it sounds the same.
My buddy explained how every song on Death's Human album sounds all the same and it lacked any creativity.
But he's just an idiot. Sort of like you, sir.
I can't imagine too many Indie hipsters would be very "open minded" about Cannibal Corpse being on the bill before Arctic Monkeys at a festival.
Just guessing here, but I guess that would go down well with hipsters as zombies are so hot right now.
Orion looks like a good idea and step in the right direction, particularly in light of Metallica's past shows that had lots of angry whiny MTV lite bands in the supporting slots.
They did not sell out to 'mainstream' audiences... who's to say Artic Monkeys are maintream. I think personally their choice of lineup is a complete disaster... and i think one person to blame for that is Lars.
I respect what the guys are doing and its far superior in everyway from when they did that 'album' with Lou Reedrubbishatwritingletalonesinging.
But they really need to delve into what makes a good festival. Look at the comments on Sonisphere, Download and Bloodstock... In the Metal world heavy is not necessarily better but a good METAL BAND is a good choice. They need to learn this so only from experience they can learn this... If Lars did not suggest these INDIE bands then whoever did needs firing.
If anyone hasn't noticed, Metallica is a HUGE band with a wide and diverse audience. They can't really get anymore mainstream than they already are. Who said metal can't be mainstream? As for the Arctic Monkeys, they're not really the most obscure band of the decade. Two popular, well known bands of different genres playing at the same festival isn't really an unusual occurrence, or anything to get ones panties in a bunch for.
There´s a festival in Norway where you can hear everything from Taake to Royksopp, don´t really see the problem. It´s kind of cool that you can listen to all kinds of different music in one day.
Looking at the lineup, i never heard of any of that bands (excluding Metallica, A7X and Arctic Monkeys). I think that's cool. Instead of lining up the same bands you can see on every other festival finally something new to discover. Also, Metallica never said "a metal festival including all the bands our fans from the 80s like" but "A festival representing what WE like to do and listen to in our free time. If people like it, good. If people don't like it, also good. We like it, and we wanted at least to try." People always complain about Metallica selling out, but to me it looks like Metallica always do whatever they want, and fans are just pissed they don't get their way after whining like babies.
Close minded metalheads being intolerant about music. How's that news?
Not really. I can't imagine too many Indie hipsters would be very "open minded" about Cannibal Corpse being on the bill before Arctic Monkeys at a festival.
If I go to a Metallica festival I expect to see similar bands. Indie is like the complete opposite of Metal. I mean that's like Having Slayer open for Bon Iver. Sure I love both bands but they don't really go together.
There we go. Unless of course you meant this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IZKE2Hd6Ck
Almost bought tickets for it, but I'm still holding out hope I can make it to Download this year to see them. I think if I wouldn't have gone to their 30th anniversary shows in San Fran I probably would go to this. Not to mention there's Rock on the Range, and Rock Fest. Lotta shows out there.
Here's a great idea: Let's throw a festival on so ticket prices will be pretty big, have a headline band that is metal then get a bunch of bands that are not metal so the people paying to see the metal band will be annoyed and pissed off.
Metallica and A7X are my favourite bands on the setlist, but i'm glad they're trying to make it more diverse than the likes of Bloodstock which mainly feature bland death metal bands. Arctic Monkeys are very good as well.
piss off with the "hipster, metal head" bullshit. shut up and listen to the music if its good. stop labelling it. people like that just take the joy out of everything just because there lives are bland and lame.
There's only 3 bands I would call heavy there, the rest isn't Metal at all. I don't have a problem with diversity, but considering the metal aspect is painfully under populated for a festival started by a Metal band. but, I mean it's Metallica right, not a decent' forward thinking, intelligent group of human beings...
Close minded metalheads being intolerant about music. How's that news?
Not really. I can't imagine too many Indie hipsters would be very "open minded" about Cannibal Corpse being on the bill before Arctic Monkeys at a festival.
If I go to a Metallica festival I expect to see similar bands. Indie is like the complete opposite of Metal. I mean that's like Having Slayer open for Bon Jovi. Sure I love both bands but they don't really go together.
In my personal opinion, this just isn't a power-festival. Lars and the Gang did try to make it sound heavy, but, really? Avenged Sevenfold, Cage the Elephant? Of course, Arctic Monkeys? This is a rock-show. However, given the recent, (sort of), "Death Magnetic," I am not someone who's going to blabber on about saying they're mainstream or have gone soft. And define Sold Out; they became famous? Big deal! I want merch. I want to wear and show my Metallica love! Just because they start expanding sales and slowing down, doesn't mean their holding the door for money. Now, true, maybe it may have been the backgroud-motive behind Load/ReLoad, but to hell with it on Death Magnetic. They're back.
I like Metallica and lots of other Metal bands...but I'm also a huge Indie Rock fanboy. That having been said, I basically crapped my pants when this lineup was announced. I know that I for sure am going to be attending!
Close minded metalheads being intolerant about music. How's that news?
Not really. I can't imagine too many Indie hipsters would be very "open minded" about Cannibal Corpse being on the bill before Arctic Monkeys at a festival.
If I go to a Metallica festival I expect to see similar bands. Indie is like the complete opposite of Metal. I mean that's like Having Slayer open for Bon Iver. Sure I love both bands but they don't really go together.
There we go. Unless of course you meant this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IZKE2Hd6Ck
Its cool to see a diverse line up, and this will be a great festival for sure. I just think that Metallica could have given the chance to some of the great up and coming metal bands out there now.But its a cool lineup for sure
Here's a great idea: Let's throw a festival on so ticket prices will be pretty big, have a headline band that is metal then get a bunch of bands that are not metal so the people paying to see the metal band will be annoyed and pissed off.
Metallica=Selloutica
Yeah right. They pay millions to pull off a big festival just to piss off some people. Even if they did, that'd be pretty metal, not sellout.
I'm definitely going just to hear Ride the Lightning. I don't care how old they are, it's my favorite album (well second favorite behind Symbolic, but Chuck Schuldiner coming back to life isn't going to happen anytime soon) so I wanna hear it.
they should just make a new band under another name because the name Metallica is really misleading for the music they've been making lately. How about "3 Country Rock Guys and Drums"?
I really feel like I'm one of few people who enjoyed Load/Re-Load, oh well haha. Solid lineup, wish I could make it.
I loved those albums, probably not a popular opinion but the intro riffs in Thorn within are some of my favourite metallica riffs and the outlaw torn is probably my favourite metallica song^^.
we all know they just want to sell a bunch of tickets which is why they chose a popular genre right now, but most hipsters cant stand metallica so this festival is BUILT TO FALL!
If you enjoy the bands, then go. If you don't, no one is forcing you to buy a ticket, it's that simple. My musical tastes include more than just metal even though I'd say I'm a metalhead, so if I have the money when tix go on sale I'm going.
I really feel like I'm one of few people who enjoyed Load/Re-Load, oh well haha. Solid lineup, wish I could make it.
I loved those albums, probably not a popular opinion but the intro riffs in Thorn within are some of my favourite metallica riffs and the outlaw torn is probably my favourite metallica song^^.
Didnt like reload but load is pretty good.Hero of the day rocks and thorn within is my highlight of that album.
I still can't see why this would be a problem; all shows don't have to be the same lineups. Streetlight Manifesto likes to tour with different kinds of bands as well to keep it interesting. Nothing wrong with different genres at a festival.
metal head are always bitching a moaning about anything metallica and anything not metal big deal the lineup isnt all metal bands all i hear from you is whine whine whine
I dont get how they "sold out to the mainstream audiences" because they said they want it to be about diversity, something people other than metal heads could attend and even check out some bands they've never heard of. If thats selling out, then I think America, Australia and Europe have "sold out" to foreign countries and cultures.
Actually no. This is my honest opinion. Metallica USED to be really good, but ever since Cliff died, they've slowly gotten worse and worse until theyre just simply unlistenable, at least to me. They're the epitome of a band that just continued on too long.
When you start a band, isn't the point to get famous/make money? so, according to the idiots out there who use the label 'sellout', you want these guys to be just getting by living in their mother basements their whole lives?
Lars once put it best, "yea we sold out, we sold out every night."
It was Jason Newsted that said that and he sure changed his ****ing tune when he was out of the band, didn't he?
At this point, anybody expecting Metallica to do anything to represent the metal scene and give some struggling metal bands a leg up is just a blind idiot. It may not be selling out, but it's definitely a big **** you to the scene that made them.
I don't understand how metal fans can be mad at Metallica for doing this. They haven't been "metal" for quite a while now, and if they ever sold out it was long before this.
Personally, I think this is a great lineup. I dig a good number of then bands on the list (Modest Mouse, The Sword, A Place To Bury Strangers, etc.) and the idea of seeing Metallica perform Ride The Lightning is something I really wish I could see as its my favorite 'tallica album.
mainstream is treated as too much of a taboo word, it's bs that just because i band is famous they are shunned for being "mainstream".
this festival sounds awesome, diverse range of acts, fairly cheap, and it sounds like metallica are having fun doing it, which after 30 years is pretty amazing.
keen as mustard, unfortunately i live in australia...
1. Even the most hardcore Metallica-haters have to consider that maybe their music didn't only change to the more light stuff because of the fact that they wanted to earn more money.
2. The fact that they sell baby diapers with their logo on, Big 4, Guitar Hero, and more and more pathetic stuff IS 100% sell-out. Not even the most hardcore Metallica fan could deny that Metallica is a greedy corporation, a giant money-making machine. Although, the band members might only be in it just for the sake of fun, you never know. Which is respectable. But then there is the other side of Metallica made of business men in suits.
We've detected that you are using Ad Blocking software.
If you hate ads, but love Ultimate Guitar, how about subscribing to Ultimate Guitar's Ad Free Service? If you subscribe to this service, you won't see annoying banner ads, pop-up ads, text-link ads or video ads and will be helping to support your favorite site at the same time.
As you know, we provide you with a lot of great, free content like news, reviews, interviews, tabs and chords, but you see, ads are the way we generate revenue to run UG and pay royalties to the songwriters and music publishers of the songs that are posted here.
