Israeli METALLICA Fans Reach Agreement With Promoter, End Concert Boycott

Israeli fans of the legendary heavy metal band METALLICA have ended their boycott of the group's May 22 concert at the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv after reaching an agreement with the show's promoter about a significant drop in ticket prices.

The fans created a Facebook page to initiate a boycott of the concert after learning that the cheapest tickets for the show were going for around $159. According to the creators of the page, METALLICA tickets around the world were being sold for significantly less than the tickets that were available for purchase for the Tel Aviv gig.

The show's promoter Marcel Avram was said to be behind the high ticket prices, according to Metal Israel.

The fans were proposing that the price should range from 300 to 600 shekel or around $80 to $160, depending on the seat quality, which they insisted was still high, as international bands that come to Israel generally charge 175 to 250 shekel ($46 to $66).

Tomer Mussman and Rotem Horovitz, two of the fans who launched the effort to bring awareness to this issue, have released the following update on the matter:

"Friends, I'm shaking with excitement as I'm writing this.

"After a four-day campaign, tens of news items about us worldwide, over 6,000 supporters and numerous media interviews, we can say that we did it! We won!

"This afternoon, Or and Tomer Mussman met with Mr. Gad Oron, the promoter's representative, and reached an agreement about a significant drop in ticket prices.

"We would like to personally thank METALLICA and their management for directly helping us with reaching our goal and reducing the prices.

"We are officially asking each and every one of you to stop the boycott, and come and enjoy METALLICA's concert with us on May 22.

"We want to thank each and every one of you who made their contribution to our successful campaign by joining, signing the petition, or sending links from and to the media everywhere and helping our voice to be heard and echo all around the world.

"We want to thank the producers, METALLICA members and management who were willing to talk to us."

The new prices ticket prices can be seen at this location. They are also listed below.

This will be METALLICA's third visit to Israel; they appeared at the Amphi Park in Rishon Letzion in 1999 and Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park six years earlier.

METALLICA wrapped the first leg of the jaunt at the end of January in Brazil, resuming in early March with stops in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Panama and Colombia.