Metallica says Orion festival was a financial disaster

The heavy metal rock group Metallica claims that something is amiss in North America and that the once lucrative market for heavy metal acts is no longer viable. This is the real reason they nixed the 2014 Orion Music + More festival. When news of their withdrawal from the event was announced in early December, the reason cited was a conflict of schedule with their European tour.

Well, it turns that the group withdrew because there wasn’t enough money to be made to make it worth their while. The band’s leader James Hetfield was interviewed on a Detroit rock station and admitted that the last time they performed at the festival it was a financial flop. He says if North Americans want to see Metallica, they’ll have to step up and prove they want the music.

Hetfield went on to explain that often times multiple heavy metal acts have to band together to stage a performance sufficient to make some money. He and the rest of the group are looking to earn enough money to support themselves. Metallica was always a business venture. Though their song lyrics spoke otherwise to a generation of teens in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was always about business for the group.

“I’m not sure what’s going on in the States as far as rock and metal goes and concert-wise, but there’s not really any willingness to get a big show out there and make it worthwhile to actually get out there and play. You see other bands gathering up six different bands just to go out and play.

“It’s pretty tough in North America.”

ON The Web:
Metallica’s James Hetfield: Orion Fest Was a ‘Disaster Financially’
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/metallicas-james-hetfield-orion-fest-was-a-disaster-financially-20140130
Metallica Nix Orion Fest for 2014
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/metallica-nix-orion-fest-for-2014-20131203