The opening events for the (hopefully) annual event that is Orion Music + More Festival took place over the weekend. The creative child of metal gods Metallica, the two dates were by most accounts a screaming success. Metallica, who have been in the news a lot lately regarding their less-than-conventional ideas for the band’s brand, may have struck gold by buying into the festival game.

There's a new trend in music that has recording artists playing significant albums back to front to attract an audience.

Metal fans are the nicest fans in the world. With a dedicated fan base that loses their shit when someone on stage even utters the name Eddie Trunk, it was almost as if the crowd at the inaugural Orion Music + More Festival were looking forward to an East coast metal festival to blow Mayhem and Warped out of the water. Different generations of fans littered the audience, from the parents who brought their kids to the show to the teens who made a quick stop at Hot Topic to pick up their first Metallica shirt before the festival.

"Exit light!" sang Metallica frontman James Hetfield at the head-thumping peak of Sunday night's Orion Music Festival. "Enter night!" the crowd of some 30,000 strong Metalli-fans roared back. It was one of a thousand similar call-and-response moments over the two nights of Metallica-headlined heavy metal celebrations, and if it wasn't heard all the way down to the boardwalk, then the shrieking, exploding rockets 300 feet in the night air that followed surely were.

This past weekend, the Orion Music and More Festival made its debut in Atlantic City, NJ. Curated entirely by the mighty Metallica (and named in memory of their departed bassist Cliff Burton, who shined in their instrumental piece "Orion"), the four members - singer James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Rob Trujillo - handpicked bands and selected special exhibits for the festival held at Bader Field, just a few blocks off of the famous Boardwalk on Saturday and Sunday.

With some 27,000 pointer and pinky fingers pointed toward the summer sky, hard rock stalwarts Metallica unleashed a metal barrage last Saturday and Sunday night that still has ears ringing and heads banging in New Jersey where they headlined both nights of the Orion Music and More Festival in Atlantic City. Any metal head can testify to their place in banging history, but the "and More," aspect proved just how dynamic this band really is.

"We’re not afraid, we’re just hoping it’s good!" So said James Hetfield from the stage of Metallica’s first-ever Orion Music + More Festival. He was referring to the song the band was about to perform, "Escape," for the first time ever. It is from their 1984 classic Ride The Lightning, which they performed in full during their set Saturday night.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at Bader Field on Saturday and Sunday for the Orion Music and More Festival, where 30 bands jammed out on several stages, generating huge crowds and creating booming business in Atlantic City.

The Orion Music + More Festival was obviously packed with a weekend of talented musical acts, but the "More" part of the event was also pretty amazing.

Crowd estimates are ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 per day although the official estimates are forth coming for the Orion Music + More festival which offered great music and so much more.