Metallica set to go south – for Antarctica gig

Sean Michaels for  Guardian Wednesday 23 October 2013 11.33 BST

Metal giants linked with December gig in Antarctica after soft drinks company launches online sweepstake in Colombia

Riding the lightning … Metallica are set to become the first major band to play a gig in Antarctica, the world's southernmost continent Metallica appear to have booked a concert in Antarctica as part of a competition run by a soft drinks company.

With Metallica themselves yet to announce the glacial metal bash, news of the gig emerged through a rather esoteric source: the Colombian website for Coca-Cola Zero (via Blabbermouth). The Coca-Cola Company has launched a sweepstake for fans in six Colombian cities, with the chance to win tickets to Metallica's "unique concert" at the bottom of the world.


Though no specific date for the show is mentioned, contestants must be available to travel between 2 and 15 December.


Drummer Lars Ulrich may have been hinting about the concert when he made some cryptic remarks in September. "There's a very interesting thing coming our way in December," Ulrich told California's 107.7 The Bone. "If anybody [in management] even knew that I just said what I just said, they would hunt me down and silence me. But there is another frontier coming in December, which we're very excited about."


If the gig goes ahead, Metallica will apparently be the first major band to play in Antarctica, where live music has traditionally been at something of a premium. The US-run McMurdo Station has long hosted open-mic nights, and a band called Nunatak claimed to have played the continent's first rock concert in 2007. The quintet, consisting of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, an environmental research centre, played to a "sell out" crowd of 17 people.


In March 2008, Fall Out Boy were forced to cancel a proposed concert in Antarctica when bad weather kept them away from the continent's western peninsula. Analysts blamed global warming for the collapse of the 16,000 sq km (6,178 sq miles) Wilkins ice shelf. "Essentially, our runway just fell off," Pete Wentz told MTV.

In other Metallica news, Ulrich recently revealed that the band have considered selling their leftover guitar riffs online. "We have more riffs than we know what to do with," he told Abu Dhabi's National newspaper (via Classic Rock) . "We talked about setting up a special riff thing, where maybe we could share some of these riffs with others, like an eBay kind of thing.


"Some of [the riffs] are actually quite decent, but we won't be able to use all of them."

Metallica are currently promoting their first 3D concert film, Through the Never. It is in cinemas now.