As previously reported, metal legends METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX - the so called Big Four - played together for the first time in history at the Sonisphere Festival in Warsaw, Poland today (June 16th).

Megadeth bassist David Ellefson reports: "Just finished our first Big Four show here in Warsaw, Poland. Simply amazing!!

Anthrax sounded great with Joey Belladonna back on vocals. Slayer did their usual thing of annihilating the place. Metallica are taking the stage now and with about 100,000 people in attendance it's flat out mind-blowing and huge to be here.

Vibes are great amongst all of us and this is a dream come true for the bands, too.

Over and out from Poland."

Stay tuned for further reports, photos and video footage, coming soon.

RollingStone.com recently issued the following report from Jennifer Vineyard:

Before heading out with Metallica on their Big Four overseas tour, Kirk Hammett made a pit stop at New York's Iridium Jazz Club on Wednesday night to pay homage to his longtime guitar hero JEFF BECK, who was in turn paying homage to an idol of his own, the late guitar innovator Les Paul.

"Jeff Beck is one of my all-time favorite guitar players," Hammett told RS at the afterparty, as he waited to give Beck a handmade guitar strap as a gift. "You know you're going to be surprised, somehow, somewhere along the line, and there were a lot of surprises tonight. You just never know where he's going to fly in from. I flew in from Hawaii, but he flew in from some other universe!"

Hammett will rejoin Metallica on Sunday to fly to Madrid for a one-off show before embarking on a quick dash of European dates starting in Warsaw on June 16th with Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.

"I'm pretty excited," Hammett says. "It's going to be a class reunion for thrash metal."

The tour's June 22nd show will be simulcast in movie theaters worldwide, but the four bands won't be touring together in the states. Megadeth's Dave Mustaine hinted to RS that Metallica are the stumbling block: "Let's be honest about all this: The cards lay in one camp's hands and the rest of us are just damn happy to be here."

Read the full report at RollingStone.com.