Heavy metal's Big Four -- Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax -- will ride together in 2010. In Europe, at least.
After weeks of rumors, the four bands have announced they'll take part in the traveling Sonisphere festival, starting June 16 at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland and continuing June 19 in Prague, Czech Republic. More Big Four Sonisphere performances are expected to be announced in the coming weeks; the festival's web site (sonisphere.com) currently lists 15 dates, including two-night stands in Sofia, Bulgaria, Bucharest, Romania, Istanbul, Turkey, and Knebworth, U.K.
There's no word on U.S. dates for the Big Four. Slayer, who co-headlined the 2009 Mayhem Tour, and Megadeth are teaming up for a 26-date American Carnage tour of North America that kicks off Jan. 18 in Seattle. Metallica toured extensively in 2009; it was No. 11 overall on the Billboard year-end Boxscore, playing to 1,120,917 fans and grossing more than $76.6 million in 66 concerts.