On Friday, November 11, METALLICA and former THE VELVET UNDERGROUND frontman Lou Reed will perform live for a special radio broadcast in Germany on 1LIVE that will also be webcast on www.einslive.de and www.metallica.de. Four hundred lucky fans will be in the audience, some even getting a chance to ask the guys about their collaborative project, "Lulu". The broadcast will also air on a number of Germany’s public broadcast network stations either live or at a later point, and all participating stations will also host the live stream on their websites.

For more info on the 1LIVE radio live broadcast/online-webcast, or to enter to win tickets to the event held in Cologne, please visit www.einslive.de or www.metallica.de. Met Club (METALLICA fan club) members should log in to www.metallica.com for a chance to win tickets through the Club.

This event will only be webcast in Germany. However, within hours of completion, it will be available on www.loureedmetallica.com in its entirety.

The fans are speaking out, and the results are not looking pretty: according to industry web site Hits Daily Double, "Lulu" is expected to sell between 12,000 and 15,000 copies in the U.S. in its first full week of release. That estimate is based on one-day sales reports compiled after the record arrived in stores on Tuesday (November 1). By contrast, METALLICA's last studio effort, 2008's "Death Magnetic", sold 490,000 copies in just a three-day sales window after it came out on a Friday, with sales tracked through the following Sunday.

Even METALLICA's controversial 2003 set, "St. Anger", moved 418,000 copies in its initial week of release, which was also shortened to four days.

METALLICA's previous three studio outings, 1997's "Reload", 1996's "Load" and the 1991 "black album" all earned six-figure first week sales as well.

"Lulu" is based on two plays by early 20th century German author Frank Wedekind about an amoral woman. METALLICA frontman James Hetfield told The Pulse Of Radio he did not read the original material but understood what it was about. "[I] didn't know much about the history, but understood the story of Lulu as this siren that's calling not only men but women, and she's so attractive and — but also man's ruin 'cause everyone just falls for her and she has no regard, no caring for anyone. And making up a backstory about her, about she was abused as a kid so she's turned prostitute, blah blah blah . . . some intense subject matter that still holds true today."

Both METALLICA and Reed have downplayed the scathing reviews that the album has gotten, with Reed saying that METALLICA fans are "threatening to shoot me." METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich defended the project, saying, "It's not for everyone, but I think it's a fantastic record."

Photo credit: Anton Corbijn