Last week, the official lineup of the 2011 Coachella Festival announced to the world that the summer concert season is closer than everybody thinks (this despite the fact that snow continues to fall at an alarming rate in most of the country). Only a week later, the Coachella lineup has already been upstaged by another concert that happens to be going down a week later at the very same venue. On Saturday, April 23, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax will come together at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California for a one-day-only event that is unprecedented in the world of metal. Though the “Big 4” have played a handful of shows in Europe, this is the only show they’ll do in the United States, and it promises to be a huge day for anybody who has ever banged his or her head to some classic metal riffs. Interestingly, it has been a while since we’ve heard fresh music from each of these bands. Metallica have been relatively quiet since the 2008 release of their ninth album Death Magnetic, though they have been sporadically touring since the album’s release. Slayer released their 10th album World Painted Blood in 2009, while Megadeth was last heard from with 2009’s Endgame. Anthrax recently reunited with singer Joey Belladonna and have an album coming out in 2011 (though anybody looking for guitarist Scott Ian’s six-string stylings should check out the album he put out with the Damned Things last year). The Big 4 concert seems like it will be full of new material and experiments from all four bands and promises to be the year’s biggest metal event.
Tickets will go onsale at Ticketmaster this Friday January 28, 2011 at 10am Pacific Standard time.
