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Hetfield Cancels Metallica Appearances At Sonic Temple And Louder Than Life To Focus On Recovery
Jim Dyson/Getty Images – Metallica
One of the many memorable Glastonbury performances.
James Hetfield sent a note to his Metallica Family today that, due to his efforts to focus on his mental, physical and spiritual health, he and the band are unable to appear at two of the Danny Wimmer Presents festivals Metallica was booked at this year.
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tool have been named as substitute headliners at Sonic Temple in Columbus, Ohio, on May 15 and 17 respectively. No replacement headliners have been named for Louder Than Life in Louisville, Ky., which runs Sept. 18-20.
“It pains me to write this, but I have to let all of you know that I cannot make it to Sonic Temple in Columbus and Louder Than Life in Louisville this year. As part of my continuing effort to get and stay healthy, I have critical recovery events on those weekends that cannot be moved. I apologize to all of our fans who have bought tickets for these festivals. We are working with the festival promoters to provide for refunds or exchanges. My intent with this statement is saying ‘I apologize’ to each one of you. The reality is that I have not prioritized my health in the past year of touring and I now know that my mental health comes first. That might sound like a no-brainer for most of you but I didn’t want to let the Metallica team/family down and, I alone, completely compromised myself.
“Looking on the brighter side, my therapy is going well. It was absolutely necessary for me to look after my mental, physical, and spiritual health.”
Hetfield also notes that Metallica will play all other shows announced for 2020, meaning DWP’s Epicenter in Charlotte, N.C.; Welcome To Rockville in Daytona Beach, Fla.; and Aftershock in Sacramento, Calif. These performances, along with Sonic Temple and Louder Than Life were announced as a series of appearances by Metallica at Danny Wimmer Presents rock festivals, each of which was promised feature a unique setlist on two separate nights.
Danny Wimmer Presents just announced last week it is receiving “substantial funding” from Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies, joining Paradigm, AGI and Primavera Sound as industry players backed by Yucaipa.
Danny Wimmer, Founder & President of DWP, was named to Pollstar’s inaugural Impact 50 List in 2019.