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Metallica Tease 2017 Tour Plans

UPDATE 28/11/16: Metallica will tour Australia in 2017, according to AJ Maddah.

ORIGINAL STORY: Brace for whiplash because Metallica are planning to start touring their asses off, starting from next year.

The thrashlords have teased plans to embark on an extensive tour in 2017 in support of their forthcoming album Hardwired…To Self Destruct, which will be similar in scale to their last global jaunt for Death Magnetic.

“We did 180 shows on the Death Magnetic tour in two-week periods over three years,” drummer Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. “That’s what works for us. We’re going to start pretty much full-on touring in January…”

The band last toured Australia as part of the Soundwave 2013 lineup, but they haven’t played their own headlining dates since 2010’s Death Magnetic visit. So by our calculations, that puts the Masters of Puppets well overdue for their live return.

“It’s time to come back,” Ulrich says, and though the band will likely be focusing on North America first up, you wouldn’t be accused of crazy talk for suggesting that Australia will follow.

But wherever they may roam, Ulrich says ‘Tallica are “itching” to play the new songs from Hardwired…To Self Destruct live.

“Right now, every day when we get into the Tuning Room we’re just playing the new songs. Then we’re like, ‘Wait, we gotta get out there and play Master of Puppets,” he says.

But he also reckons it’ll be pretty easy to work the newbies into the setlist.

“Some of the stuff on Death Magnetic was pretty cerebral,” he says. “You had to really think about what the next crazy part is that was coming up. Some of the songs from the new record are a little more physical. It’s gonna be a lot of fun to play this.

“Also, some of these songs are a little shorter than the ones on Death Magnetic. I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun to throw many of these songs in, but we’ll change the setlist every night like we always do.”

Best cancel your next haircut, then.

Hardwired…To Self Destruct is tipped to feature 80 minutes of new Metallica material and is due to drop on Friday, 18th November.

Catch the title track below, or watch the band playing it live for the first time here.

Watch: Metallica – Hardwired

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