METALLICA's South American Tour Is Officially Postponed

METALLICA's South American tour, which was originally planned for April, has been postponed until December. The band states: "GRETA VAN FLEET is going to stay on board to take this ride with us, and we'll be hitting each and every city, but a few venues may have changed. We'll be back later this week with the new dates and details about tickets, venues and everything you need to know to help you make plans."

As previously reported, METALLICA's appearances at three Danny Wimmer Presents-produced festivals in May have been canceled: Epicenter in Charlotte, Welcome To Rockville in Daytona and Sonic Temple in Columbus. However, METALLICA has been added to the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville this summer. The group said: "We're excited that we'll once again be able to partake in the festivities as we'll be hitting the stage on Thursday, September 17th to kick off what will be four days of live music and good vibes. Additional headliners for the remainder of Louder Than Life will be announced at a later date."

Regarding the decision to call off the South American tour, METALLICA said: "As many of you know, in our nearly forty years of touring, we've had a few mishaps along the way; broken bones, trashed appendixes, a pyro mishap, backs thrown out, crazy weather, food poisoning (beware of the oysters!) and even one way next-level anxiety attack! None of it has ever stopped us, but this is obviously a very different time and leaving the house now literally means taking your life in your hands. Unfortunately, in these surreal times that means we have to stay away from each other for the foreseeable future before we can start thinking about 'TALLICA family reunions around the world. We're all putting safety first, self-isolating and socially distancing, but not forever!"

Last December, Billboard reported that METALLICA was the highest-ranked hard rock act on the magazine's year-end Boxscore chart, with a combined gross of $177 million from 46 concerts during the band's ongoing "WorldWired" tour. The band sold 1.7 million tickets around the world during the 12-month time frame that determined the chart's rankings.

To mark the 20th anniversary of METALLICA's first performance with the San Francisco Symphony, which resulted in the live "S&M" album and video, the band re-teamed with the symphony in September for two shows for the grand opening of Chase Center, the new home of the Golden State Warriors. A film of the concerts, called "S&M²", arrived in theaters worldwide in October.