photo: Melinda Male Oswandel

Metallica hosting their own festival could have easily been a failure. In fact, when the band initially announced the Orion Music & More Fest, many said it would be. With a lineup of bands that included Modest Mouse, Arctic Monkeys, The Gaslight Anthem, and chart-topping country artist Eric Church, the inaugural festival seemed diverse at best, and “not metal at all” at worst. Then it added more heavy bands, including Sepultura, The Sword, Torche, Ghost and  Baroness. When it came festival time, Metallica not only introduced many of the bands, but actively watched them. Robert Trujillo even reunited with his former band Suicidal Tendencies to play some songs from their side project he was part of, Infectious Grooves. In short, the diversity helped keep the fest from becoming repetitive, it was run amazingly well thanks to promoter C3 (Austin City Limits), and while it didn’t sell out, everybody that went to Atlantic City’s Bader Field had a great time and got their money’s worth. The band’s already announced that there will be another one.