Three headliners top Summer Sanitarium tour

Tickets will go on sale Feb. 22

By PHIL GALLO

Hetfield

HOLLYWOOD -- Metallica, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, three of the biggest hard rock bands of the last 15 years, will share the bill on the second Summer Sanitarium tour that will hit at least 18 U.S. markets this year beginning July 4.

All three bands will play headline-length sets. Tickets will be going on sale Feb. 22. Mudvayne will be the opening act.

The three acts will be touring in support of new albums. Metallica's "St. Anger," their first studio disc in five years, will hit stores June 10; Limp Bizkit's "Lessismore" is slated for May; and Linkin Park's "Meteora" is on the March 25 release slate. Linkin ark's debut, "Hybrid Nation" (Warners), was the biggest seller of 2001.

Metallica's inaugural Summer Sanitarium tour, in 2000, featured Korn, Kid Rock and System of a Down and was one of the year's biggest grossers. The San Francisco band, now in its 22nd year of existence, has been a mainstay of multi-group shows, having toured separately with Van Halen, Guns N' Roses and headlining 1996's Lollapalooza tour.