Metallica to play Antarctica without amps

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/25/metallica-play-antarctica-without-amps

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Metallica's upcoming concert in Antarctica won't just be their most remote gig of all time – it will be their quietest. The band have confirmed plans for a show on the planet's iciest continent, revealing that due to Antarctica's unique conditions, they will be performing without amplifiers.

It's a "journey to the bottom of the Earth", Metallica wrote on their website. The US rockers are travelling to Argentina's Antarctic research base, Carlini, to perform "near the heliport" on Sunday 8 December. A group of contest winners will rendezvous with the band at Carlini as part of a 10-day Antarctic cruise.

"We'll be playing inside a dome on the base," said the statement. "In another twist, the show will be transmitted to the audience via headphones with no amplification – a real first for us!" The gig will also be live-streamed to fans "[in] participating countries" via coca-cola.tv and coca-cola.fm. "At a later date", Metallica plan to "share" the footage in what will probably be the world's first Antarctic concert film.

Metallica have yet to explain why their concert is being organised as a kind of silent disco, with fans wearing headphones. It's likely to be an issue of logistics: by performing amp-free, the band will require much less equipment to be brought over the Drake Passage. According to promoters Coca-Cola, the gig complies with Argentina's environmental management programme for Antarctica, and follows the guidelines of the international Antarctic-Environmental Protocol.

In addition to being the only continent on earth where Metallica have never played a concert, Antarctica is the only continent where no foreign band has performed. In 2008, bad weather forced Fall Out Boy to call off a planned show on its western peninsula; apart from McMurdo Station's famous open mic nights, the only officially documented rock concert was a performance by scientists as part of Live Earth 2007.

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