On Sunday (6th) evening, Metallica shared a link to a website Metallicaxx.com, which featured a countdown clock as it’s expected to hit zero this Thursday (10th) at 12:00PM PT. This has led to speculation that it was associated with their S&M2 concert since their historical performance will hit the big screen tomorrow (9th) for one-night-only. Fans also wondered (or hoped) if it would be an update on James Hetfield’s recovery status. However, the countdown clock appears to be linked to a string to major festival announcements.

Other websites tied to promoter Danny Wimmer Presents have their 2020 websites available with a similar countdown clock. Provided that xx on Metallicaxx could mean the roman numeral for 20, which leads to us believing Thursday’s announcement will most likely involve a tour or series of 2020 festival dates.

Festivals such as Epicenter, Sonic Temple, Louder Than Life, Welcome to Rockville, Aftershock, shared the following “hacked” message on all social media platforms:

“The page you are trying to access is no longer under admin control. We’ve been waiting long enough. We’ve taken matters into our own hands. We will get what we want. This is very simple. You have until October 10th at noon Pacific Time to give us what we want. Otherwise, we’ll leak your server access credentials. You have 3 days.”