Metallica’s Mysterious Countdown Hits Zero. Hetfield’s Return to Stage Confirmed, This Was the Full Announcement

The clues previously revealed by fans were on point.

As Metallica’s mysterious countdown clock hit zero, the band has announced it will play two-night headlining slots at five US music festivals in 2020.As previously revealed by snooping fans, each of the events is produced by Danny Wimmer Presents: Epicenter in Charlotte, NC (May 1-3), Welcome To Rockville in Daytona Beach, FL (May 8-10), Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival in Columbus, OH (May 15-17), Louder Than Life in Louisville, KN (September 18-20), and Aftershock in Sacramento, CA (October 9-11).

At each show, the band will perform sets on both Friday night and Sunday night, with a different setlist for each performance. This also confirms that frontman James Hetfield – who recently re-entered rehab, forcing the band to cancel its tour of Australia and New Zealand – will be back on stage by May next year.

The group accompanied the announcement with a one-hour press conference from the Metallica HQ in San Rafael, CA. Drummer Lars Ulrich said during the event (transcribed by UG):

“As far as the setlist is concerned, these shows are seven, eight months away, and the ones in the fall are almost a year away. I really don’t think that much about the setlist that much in advance. We like to go deep, and, obviously, anybody who knows us knows that we like to dust off things that we haven’t played for a while.

“As I’ve circled through this in my Danish brain a couple of times, the one thing I haven’t quite figured out is – our production manager, Dan Braun, refers to them as the ‘toe-tapping favorites.’

“So there’s, obviously a few toe-tapping favorites, quote-unquote, and so I have to figure out how to split them up and what to do about those, and then the rest of it will come together.

“It will be fun, it will be challenging, but we thrive on this shit. And anytime we get a chance to do anything outside of the norm, Metallica are four very happy guys. We kind of thrive on sometimes chaotic energy.

“And this will come together. I don’t wanna freak anybody out here, especially Danny [Wimmer], but it may not come together until about 24 hours before the first show, but it will definitely come together.”

The drummer added:

“We don’t over-plan this stuff. We don’t over-plan it, we don’t overthink it, so we prevent ourselves from getting too robotic.

“There always has to be a human element and an impulsive element and a momentary element, and so we always try to find that right balance. But I’m sure by the time we show up in North Carolina, which is the first show, we will have it somewhat together.

“The most important part of this to Metallica, the most important part of this to the fans and the most important thing to the festival, is that the shows are gonna be different.

“It’s not exactly like Metallica keeps a low profile and comes out of hiding once every 10 years. So if you end up at a show and you may hear this, this, this and this, but not hear that and that – we sort of keep coming back and we keep coming back and we keep coming back, like the Energizer Bunny.

“I think that the beauty of this is that it will be special. And I think that all five of these festival appearances, all 10 of these shows will be unique. And like most of you guys know, I try to… Every set is different – every setlist – and, obviously, it won’t be the same five groups of two setlists, so all 10 of these shows will be different.”

Tickets for all festivals are on sale now, you can watch the full press event in the embedded player below.