Avenged Sevenfold team up with Cirque du Soleil for live shows

A picture of Avenged Sevenfold live in concert — Avenged Sevenfold live in concert (Image credit: Getty)

Avenged Sevenfold have hired the company behind Cirque du Soleil to manage the production on their upcoming live shows.

The band launch their next wave of tour dates next month, starting in Glasgow, UK, on January 10 before a string of appearances across Europe.

And frontman M Shadows says the band will consider restructuring entire venues to realise their vision for a unique stage setting.

Canada-based Cirque du Soleil is the biggest theatrical producer in the world and is known for its spectacular shows.

Shadows tells Metal Hammer: “The production that’s being built is different for us, different for anyone I’ve ever seen, the people we’ve hired don’t do tours, they do Cirque du Soleil.

“This is gonna be drawn out into different types of touring, we’re not going on tour for six months, it’ll be two weeks on, two weeks off.

“It’ll be a longer cycle but we’re gonna roll with the punches.”

He continues: “We’re an oddball.

“A lot of bands live, breathe and die the 2016 metal scene, but we just live in our own world and try to do things different than everyone else.

“I don’t ever feel like we fit in. We’re going to be whatever we feel is right, and if it changes the industry, then great.”

In October, Avenged Sevenfold released their seventh album The Stage. Guitarist Zacky Vengeance recently said the band were working on ideas for a “fucked up” video for new track God Damn.

Avenged Sevenfold are the cover stars of the new issue of Metal Hammer magazine. Issue 291 is available now in print and via TeamRock+.

Avenged Sevenfold tour dates 2017

Jan 10: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK
Jan 12: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, UK
Jan 13: Birmingham Genting Arena, UK
Jan 15: Sheffield Arena, UK
Jan 16: Manchester Arena, UK
Jan 18: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Jan 19: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
Jan 21: London O2 Arena, UK
Jan 22: London O2 Arena, UK
Feb 12: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Feb 13: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
Feb 15: Berlin Arena, Germany
Feb 16: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Germany
Feb 18: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Feb 20: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
Feb 21: Milan Forum, Italy
Feb 23: Vienna Wiener Stadthalle, Austria
Feb 25: Munich Zenith, Germany
Feb 26: Zurich Halle 622, Austria
Feb 28: Lille Zenith Arena, France
Mar 01: Luxembourg Rockhal, Luxembourg
Mar 02: Paris AccorHotels Arena, France
Mar 04: Copenhagen Valby Hallen, Denmark
Mar 07: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
Mar 09: Stockholm Ericsson Globe, Sweden
Mar 10: Oslo Telenor, Norway

Avenged Sevenfold not daunted by Metallica head-to-head

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.