Forty years without Cliff Burton: the card draw in Sweden, and the two bass players who came after

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

On 27 September 1986 a bus went off the road near Dörarp, Sweden, and Metallica lost its bass player at 24. Four decades later the fan argument is still Jason Newsted versus Robert Trujillo, which has never been the actual question.

The night before

The band was on the European leg of the Damage, Inc. tour, out behind Master of Puppets, riding a bus between Stockholm and Copenhagen. On the night of 26 September, Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett drew cards to decide who picked a bunk first. Burton pulled the ace of spades and took the one Hammett had been sleeping in.

Faith No More opening for System of a Down in 2027: the band that made the door and the band that walked through it

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 21:01:47 +0000

Four stadium dates in Australia and New Zealand put Faith No More on before System of a Down. Read the bill as a timeline and it runs backwards: 1990, 1992, 2000, 2021, 2027.

The announcement, and why the order matters

On 27 July 2026, System of a Down and Faith No More announced four stadium shows for early 2027: Accor Stadium in Sydney on 22 January, Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on 27 January, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on 1 February and Hnry Stadium in Wellington on 7 February. Faith No More is the support act. General sale opened on 31 July. It is System of a Down’s first trip to the region in more than a decade, and Faith No More has not played there since Soundwave in 2015. (Pollstar, TEG Live, Louder)

Faith No More on Real Rock Lab

Forty years without Cliff Burton: the card draw in Sweden, and the two bass players who came after

The night before

Faith No More opening for System of a Down in 2027: the band that made the door and the band that walked through it

The announcement, and why the order matters