Metallica promises plenty of new songs on tour

By Gary Graff

DETROIT (Billboard) - Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich promises that fans will hear "a lot of new songs" on the group's upcoming tour, which kicks off October 21 near Phoenix.

The heavy metal titans recently spent three weeks atop the U.S. pop album chart with "Death Magnetic," the band's first set of new material in five years.

"These new songs are a lot of fun to play," Ulrich told Billboard.com. "Traditionally I think we've been a little conservative when we've started off with two songs, three songs (from the new album). We're going to hit the ground running here. We're probably gonna learn all of them and play, I hope, at least five a night and probably rotate 'em so we get a lot of new songs in. That's one thing I'm definite about."

Metallica, which has dates booked into August of 2009, will again be playing in the round, though Ulrich said the production will be "a completely different thing than what we've done before."

He said there would be "a big-ass f--kin' lighting rig above us, and there's some pretty cool stuff up there. There'll be some s--t that turns on and off and some s--t that blows up ... the usual stuff.

Ulrich said he was "a little overwhelmed (and) humbled" by the reception to "Death Magnetic," which has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide already. The band's previous release, "St. Anger," was a commercial and critical disappointment.

"You couldn't have told me a month ago or six months ago that we would have a record that would be this well-received," Ulrich said. "It seems like it's so universal this time and it's all over the world and everybody's so into it on so many different levels -- the fans, press, the peers ... everybody."

Reuters/Billboard