Every song from Death Magnetic has now been played live in concert. The Unforgiven III made its live debut in Oslo, Norway at Telenor Arena. (Thanks to Manguy!)

In other news... the Metallica vinyl re-release continues with Load scheduled for May and Reload slated for June. Both will have both regular and deluxe editions.

APRIL FOOLS!

"To Hell & Back": is it just name of the tour Metallica will set out on the summer of 2011? Is it just the name? The tour, which is said to rival Pink Floyd's extravagent show for their concept album 'The Wall' is now being described as more than just a stage show.

As expected, the tour will be well documented via HD cameras AND in 3-D(?). "We plan to capture the full Metallica show and make use of all current technologies - this will tbe Avatar of concert films." Mensch added "did I say concert film? It's much more than just a concert film."

When pressed for details, he hinted that guest stars will appear. "Obviously Michael Kamen cannot be there. But, his ideas will be there. What he started will be expanded on."

"We, or Metallica will take you to hell and back."

From Billboard.com.

UPDATE: The General reports that Sirius satellite radio's Liquid Metal reported on this and included that the tour is expected to be preceded by a "interactive DVD" that may include new songs (song titles that were speculated on included 'Shine' and 'Hell and Back' - in a possible concept/storylined release).

From Classic Rock Magazine:

Metallica manager Peter Mensch has revealed the band have some major plans for 2011.

“Let’s just say that next year you will see a Metallica tour that will blow your mind. They will only play in 10 cities but it will be a huge undertaking. It will be Metallica’s equivalent of The Wall.”

This revelation came up when Classic Rock scribe Peter Makowski interviewed Mensch for a feature about the most powerful men in rock and asked him to define his role as a manager.

Mensch replied: “Coming up with ideas so that the lives shows are interesting. Just shooting off dumb ideas and, by the way, between you and me, some of it is recycling stuff that people did 25 years ago but no one’s smart enough to know that we recycled it.

“Saying something like: ‘I have this idea for us to play an equivalent of The Wall. So here’s some ideas so we can get the professionals in to they can tell me if I’m crazy or not.’ It’s like plotting out a canvas so someone else can fill it in.”

Hmm… so this could be a new version of an old idea? Metallica’s Wall? Any more clues?

Well, this could be a red herring but Mensch was insistent that Makowski checked out American opera singer Renée Fleming on YouTube. Apart from being a highly respected soprano Fleming also appeared on the soundtrack of The Lord Of The Rings singing in the imagined language of Sindarin.

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2011 is also the 20th Anniversary of the release of Black Album... coincidence?

VH1’s Emmy Award-nominated and critically acclaimed series “Behind The Music,” returns to continue some of these now iconic stories. Starting Saturday, February 6 at 10PM ET, VH1 Classic will air eight new half-hour weekly episodes of “Behind the Music Remastered” featuring some of classic rocks seminal artists including: Genesis, Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and John Lennon. Picking up where the original “Behind the Music” episodes left off, VH1 Classic will air brand new interviews, footage, and video clips that update the stories of several classic artists over the last 10 to 15 years.

Heavy metal pioneers, Metallica, will be the focus of this week’s show. Be sure to catch the premiere episode of Behind the Music Remastered this Saturday, February 6 at 10/9C only on VH1 Classic

While all of these artists have previously been featured on BTM, the Remastered series will pick up where those episodes left off with new interviews and footage from the past decade. Behind the Music Remastered will premiere on VH1 Classic on Saturday, February 6th.

(from Shawn at Wiredset).

Sadly, the body of missing Metallica fan Morgan Dana Harrington has been discovered. The 20 year-old disappeared during a Metallica concert on October 17, 2009 at Charlottesville, VA's John Paul Jones arena. Her body was found on a farm about 10 miles from the venue. No arrests have been made nor have any suspects been named.

We urge fans to consider making a donation in Morgan's honor to either the Morgan Dana Harrington Memorial Scholarship at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine or to OMNI – Orphan Medical Network International, an organization that provides medical care in Africa.

Virginia Tech
Attn: Gift Accounting
University Development (0336)
Blacksburg, VA 24061

OMNI
6930 Empire Lane
Roanoke, VA 24018.