Metallica Plan Tour, Book

Tweet

Though Metallica's St. Anger is more than six months old and has already been supported with a lengthy Summer Sanitarium Tour, the group will spend a substantial part of 2004 on the road further plugging the record. The group has lined up a month-long leg of a North American tour to launch on March 2nd in Phoenix.

The Bay Area metalmen won't exactly be idle until then. The group has four dates left on its current European jaunt, before returning to the States to play a New Year's Eve gig at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. In mid-January, Metallica will head out for ten dates as part of the Big Day Out Festival in Australia and New Zealand, before starting the first leg of the North American tour. Another round of European dates are scheduled to run from May 26th in Copenhagen through July 2nd in Werchter, Belgium.

And there's more: Next year will see the release of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, a feature movie about the making of St. Anger, shot by documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Paradise Lost, Brother's Keeper). The warts-and-all film covers the departure of longtime bassist Jason Newsted, a rehab sting for frontman James Hetfield, and the therapy sessions that kept the band together and yielded its latest album. "This is not a film about Metallica -- it's a film about relationships," Ulrich said.

Metallica have also green lit their first official book, which will be published by Broadway Books next August. The 272-page book will center around material from the band's history as documented by So What! (also the book's tentative title), its fan club magazine, which is in its tenth year. Photos, handwritten notes, interviews and fan artwork and letters will also be included; the book will be assembled by So What! editor Steffan Chirazi. "Metallica has proved to be one of the most popular and enduring rock acts of all time," acquiring editor Charlie Conrad said. "We believe that the humor, quality and inside nature of the material will make 'So What!' a must-have."

Metallica tour dates:

3/2: Phoenix, America West Arena
3/3: Tucson, AZ, Tucson Convention Center
3/5: Inglewood, CA, The Forum
3/8: San Francisco, Cow Palace
3/10: Sacramento, ARCO Arena
3/11: Reno, NV, Lawlor Events Center
3/13: Las Vegas, Thomas and Mack Center
3/18: Portland, OR, Rose Garden Arena
3/20: Nampa, ID, Idaho Center
3/21: Spokane, WA, Spokane Arena
3/23: Edmonton, AB, Rexall Place
3/24: Calgary, AB, Pengrowth Saddledome
3/26: Vancouver, BC, General Motor's Place
3/28: Seattle, KeyArena
3/30: Casper, WY, Casper Events Center
3/31: Denver, Pepsi Center

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES The 10 Best Zombie Movie Scenes
• 
  TV The Most WTF? Moments of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter