Big Four Tour - Thrash Metal Bands Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax

No one thought it would ever happen, but it's actually happening. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax on one stage, on tour in 2010 & 2011! The Big Four bands of thrash metal have united for the Sonicsphere Festival in the UK and France in 2011.

They visited Warsaw, Poland in June 2010, and continued to tour in the Czech Republic, as well as throughout the rest of Europe. Possible tour dates for the US have not been announced as of yet, except for a one-off date in Coachella on April 23, 2011 and an additional date on September 14, 2011.. For the first time in history, these four thrash metal bands will share the stage. Find out here the history of the bands, where you can get tickets for the Big Four Tour, and more information about the bands here!

You can also find the Big Four DVD Live from Bulgaria here featuring their historic 2010 concert, jam packed with nearly six hours of live music and behind the scenes footage!

So far, there have been no dates announced for a Big Four tour in 2012. If there is a news update, this page will be the first to bring you news about it! So far, there is no news about a 2013 Big Four tour. Disappointing, but true. On the Sonisphere home page, you can check out the graphic which features an announcement that some event will be taking place between July 4th-July 6th, 2014. Will this be the return of Sonisphere? And, will these bands be returning, or will entirely different bands be appearing instead?

Where to get tickets for the Big Four Tour in 2011

The Big Four announced their dates via their own website for the event. Get Big Four tickets here. With one date having been played in the USA, everyone is anticipating and hoping for more US tour dates for 2011 and beyond! The date for the sole US show was April 23, 2011, in the warm desert sands of Coachella, California. This was on the same grounds as the other Coachella Festival held one week prior featuring bands like The Strokes and Cage the Elephant. The show received excellent reviews from concert goers. Now the only question that remains to be answered... when are the rest of the dates? Lars Ulrich has recently stated that more shows are on the way in the USA, with hopes of an east coast show, and possibly a couple more, however, no full-fledged cross country tour.

Also announced is the Yankee Stadium Big 4 concert date set to happen on September 14, 2011. Be sure to get your tickets before this soon to be legendary show sells out. This is the perfect time of year to see a concert, so you might as well stay the night in New York City if you can and make a trip out of it.

Big Four UK Sonicsphere Festival 2011 tickets are available here (provided they aren't sold out).

Will there be more Big Four tour dates announced?

Hopefully yes. The information will be posted here as soon as we have new tour dates! See above to learn about the Yankee Stadium gig in 2011 featuring these four bands! As of September 2011, no new dates have been announced.

The Big Four tour for 2010 has concluded and was a huge success for the band. There was no drama, no missed shows, and no technical difficulties. If you're looking to see these four bands play together again, you're out of luck for now. However, Megadeth and Slayer are touring together on the "American Carnage" tour throughout America this year. Joining them also on some dates will be Testament, and Anthrax in late 2010. Dates have also been announced for 2011 in Europe. See below for more details on the American Carnage and European Carnage tours.

Will the bands play together again in the future? Several music news outlets have reported statements from Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Kirk Hammett, and Kerry King all unanimously saying they'd like to tour again in the future. Now the only question is, when? Will we see a 2011 Big Four Tour in the summer? So far, there's one single date in Coachella announced. In the meantime, keep reading for information on the American Carnage Tour, featuring three of the four "Big Four" bands. The future is looking bright for these four bands to tour in 2012 (the wait is killing us, we know).

Update for 2013: There is no news about a Big Four reunion tour. None of the band members have said much about this publicly. Was that really it?

Get a copy today of the Big Four tour live from Bulgaria!

European Carnage

It was announced Megadeth and Slayer will team up to play a string of dates in March through April in 2011 in Europe, in between Megadeth recording their 2011 album, TH1RT3EN. Here are the dates and places where these concerts will take place:

March

13 Kiev, Ukraine Expo

15 Moscow, Russia Olimpiski

16 St Petersburg, Russia Jubileeny

17 Helsinki, Finland Ice Hall

19 Stockholm, Sweden Arenan

20 Oslo, Norway Sentrum Scene

21 Aarhus, Denmark SCC

23 Brussels, Belgium Forest

24 Bamberg, Germany Stechert Arena

26 Paris, France Zenith

28 Madrid, Spain La Riviera

29 La Coruna, Spain Coliseum

30 Lisbon, Portugal Pavilhao Atlantico

April

1 Barcelona, Spain St Jordi Club

3 Rome, Italy Atlantico

4 Padova, Italy Gran Teatro

6 Zagreb, Croatia Arena

7 Vienna, Austria Gasometer

8 Budapest, Hungary Arena

10 Prague, Czech Republic O2 Arena

11 Lodz, Poland Sportshall

13 Basel, Switzerland St Jakobshalle

Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Testament tour

Not since the 1991 Clash of the Titans tour have these three thrash metal bands shared an American stage - Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. The American Carnage Tour, also dubbed the JÃGERMEISTER MUSIC TOUR, has been running throughout 2010. In late 2010, the tour will include Anthrax. Megadeth has been performing its classic thrash masterpiece, Rust in Peace, live on tour. Slayer has been playing its 1990 release Seasons of the Abyss. These two albums are celebrating a 20th anniversary release, with the albums played in completion. If you're a fan of the Big Four, then this is right up your alley.

Past dates 2010:

September

24 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Amph

25 San Antonio, TX AT&T Cente

26 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theater

28 New Orleans, LA Lakefront Arena

30 Knoxville, TN Knoxville Civic Coliseum

October

1 Duluth, GA The Arena at Gwinnett Center

2 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live

3 Miami, FL Bayfront Park Amphitheater

5 Hampton, VA Hampton Coliseum

6 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena

8 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum

9 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion

10 Columbus, OH- Lifestyle Communities Pavilion

12 Louisville, KY- Broadbent Arena

14 Ft Wayne, IN - War Memorial Coliseum

15 Grand Rapids, MI - DeltaPlex

16 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom

19 Salt Lake City, UT - E Center

20 Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl

21 Hollywood, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre

There have been no announcements of any type that this tour will continue. In fact, the opposite has been stated by Kerry King of Slayer, who said the coordinating the four headlining acts on one stage was so hard to do, it's doubtful it will ever happen again.

Let's hope not.

In the meantime, Metallica makes plans for recording their new album, which guitarist Kirk Hammet has said to be more in the vein of the Black Album, but heavier (in contrast to 2011's panned collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu).

Slayer is co-headlining Mayhem Festival with Slipknot in 2012, and recording a new album.

Megadeth released their acclaimed album Th1rt3en in November, 2011, and continue to tour in 2012 with Rob Zombie and Mustaine's own tour, Gigantour.

Anthrax released their most positively received album in years, Worship Music, in 2011. The band will also headline the side stage at Mayhem Festival in 2012.

Members of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax were together for the first time ever for the song "Am I Evil." Joey Belladonna, James Hetfield, and Dave Mustaine trade vocal duties, along with all of the other band members playing in unison. This is something to see and hear!

Dave Mustaine, of all of the members of the Big Four bands, probably has led the most interesting life of all. With a troubled childhood and a sudden rise to fame with Metallica, his ejection from the band turned into a bitter rivalry with his former bandmates, a meteoric rise with Megadeth, and a deep, unrelenting history of drug abuse. Read about the Godfather of thrash metal in this well reviewed autobiography book, "Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir" and his rise to greatness!

Here's a taste of Megadeth's incredible Endgame release:

This is it, a once in a lifetime opportunity to see these four bands on the east coast! If you live on the east coast, then you'll want to make sure you clear your schedule for September 14, 2011. This is a historic arena and is destined to be even bigger than the Coachella gig in April. Here are the latest tickets that have popped up for sale on Ebay (get them while you can!):