The Big Four

Just watched a couple clips of the mega-epic concert in Poland where Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer shared the same stage. I'm surprised my head didn't go all Scanners-like after viewing that. Too bad Slayer didn't come out for the finale.

My only question is this: what kind of a killing (and that can be taken many ways, my friends) would all four of them make if they took that show state-side? Would they even be able to keep themselves from killing one another? Money is REALLY tight by me, but for a show like this, it would be worth burning a few hundred (and my hearing) for something like that.

 

I thought this was going to be about football, baseball, basketball, soccer and not hockey anymore.

 

Bands make huge money for those festival type shows. I remember hearing Dee Snider say on Stern's show that they do five concerts a year, usually the Rocklahoma and one other one in the US and a couple overseas and each member of the band clears $1 million.

With the four bands you mentioned, I'd bet Metallica is getting about 75 percent of the $$$.

 

Not to be the geography police, but Sofia is in Bulgaria, not Poland.

And yeah, I doubt this would work as a full tour in the U.S. Too much distance involved.

That's one thing Europe has going for it: If you're in Paris and there's a big concert in say Prague, it's only a 550-mile trip to get there. Not so if you're in Philadelphia and there's a big concert in L.A. you want to go to.

 

Reminds me of the Clash of the Titans tour in 1990: In-their-prime Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth and an up-and-coming Alice In Chains.

You would lose that bet.

Do you really think the others - especially Megadeth - would agree to take the stage under that stipulation?

As to the original thread question (and I was delighted to see that this thread was about "The Big Four" and not about the auto industry or something else): Europe is a much stronger market for metal. That said . . . Megadeth still does arenas, but ticket sales are soft in many places. Anthrax' last tour with Joey Belladonna (and you really need a scorecard to keep track of who is singing for them these days) was in smaller venues. Slayer can probably still do sheds stateside, and Metallica sells out arenas from coast-to-coast stateside and all over the world.

This tour would work here, especially in the bigger markets. True heavy/thrash metal has really returned in the last decade-and-a-half after the "Alternative!!" movement helped get rid of the hair bands.

 

Speaking of Slayer, Chuck Klostermann tells a great story in one of his books about seeing Slayer in concert for the first time. As soon as the riff for "Raining Blood" began, some guy in front of him turned to a total stranger and punched him in the face.

 

I thought American Motors had come back to life...

 

In the general metal music-fan sense, isn't Metallica a much bigger band than those other three?

 

Most definitely. Megadeth and Anthrax each had a nice run in the late 80s/early 90s, but never had the breakthrough success Metallica had. And Slayer has always been an underground sensation (though their fans are as loyal and hardcore as any).

 

I thought it was about re-branding the Big 12.

 

Do you think a tour of Anthrax-Megadeth-Slayer could sell out football stadiums? Maybe in 1988, but not today.

Megadeth sold less than 5,000 tickets the last time they played locally.

Maybe 75 percent is high, but at least 50-60 percent.

 

Nice