Metallica has recruited an eclectic mix of bands for their first annual Orion Music + More music, arts, and lifestyle festival. Produced with Lollapalooza/ACL promoters C3, the fest will take place at in Atlantic City, NJ’s Bader Field from June 23-24. Bader Field hosted the first Dave Matthews Band Caravan event last summer and is rumored to host Phish this June (though Metallica’s announcement rules out an Atlantic City paper’s claim that Phish would play the field from June 22-24).

“We’ve had the idea of doing our own lifestyle festival with lots of diverse music and fun and games for years,” Metallica’s Lars Ulrich says. “Finally this year all the practical ducks lined up in a row, and we are beyond psyched to bring Orion to our fans, friends and the curious. After the most incredible of weeks ever in December 2011 celebrating our 30th anniversary at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, bringing the spirit of that week, the looseness of that week, the possibilities of that week, the fan interactive elements of that week, and the (fill in your own blank here) of that week to a festival setting is so exciting we can hardly contain ourselves.”

Metallica will headline both nights of Orion Music + More and play “The Black Album” in its entirety one night and Ride The Lightning in its entirety the other. This will be the only time the band will perform these albums in North America in 2012. Fans of other music will also be happy to hear that Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Cage The Elephant, Fucked Up, Best Coast, Hot Snakes, Titus Andronicus, Gary Clark Jr., Lucero, Roky Erickson, The Black Angels, The Sword and Liturgy will also perform. Additional acts will be announced in the coming weeks.