Scott Ian and Charlie Benante , guitarist and drummer of Anthrax , discussed during an interview with Metal Edge the possibility of having Big Four shows. In this case, Exodus would take the place of Slayer , who retired three years ago.
Ian replied: "Charlie can ask Lars [ Ulrich Metallica 's drummer ] when they're together in August," referring to the Metallica shows that Pantera will be opening for in the second half of the year.
Charlie then added: “Yeah, I saw that Mustaine Megadeth 's frontman ] was wanting a bit of that. I mean, I don't know. I don't think Metallica needs to do that right now. They have a lot to do in the next two years [laughs].”
“If the Big Four happens again – in any format – it certainly won’t be before 2025, because Metallica has already announced their plans. So, anyone who has a question about the Big Four, wait until 2025 [laughs],” concluded Ian. The plans the guitarist mentioned are the release of the album 72 Seasons , which will be accompanied by an extensive promotional tour. The tour will last two years and will include two shows in each city. Some of the opening bands on the tour include Pantera, Mammoth WVH, Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills , and Architects . See the dates already announced here.
Big Four
Known as the Big Four of Thrash, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer , and Anthrax performed together for the first time on June 16, 2010, at the Sonisphere festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland, and followed it up with six more shows as part of the Sonisphere series that same year.
They reunited several times in 2011. The last Big Four show took place on September 14, 2011, at Yankee Stadium in New York. Since then, Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax have played several shows together, including the 2013 Soundwave festival in Australia. They also performed at the 2014 Heavy MTL festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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