The Game Is On, New York City.

Avenged Sevenfold has given the signal to fans in New York City and the game is officially on. The band have shared this hint and a photo: “This former 34th St. Ballroom is where the All Excess DVD was filmed.” A man in black holds the first clue and will reward 10 fans who brave the rain.

Updates:

– Avenged Sevenfold has announced that the 10 people have been chosen.

– The first 10 people to meet the man in black at the Hammerstein Ballroom were given clues that took them to a few more places before they ended up at the final location. The lucky fans who made it there got to meet the band and listen to 3 new songs with them.

– Avenged Sevenfold has posted a ‘Congratulations’ message to all the winners and a grou photo here.

– Deathbat News readers Paul & Holly were two of the first 10 fans and have detailed their experiences below:

PAUL: My friend and I took the train to NYC (coming from CT) early in the morning. I kept checking Avenged Sevenfold’s twitter as we were getting off the train, got a bite to eat and before I know it Avenged Sevenfold tweets “t-minus 1 hour”. As soon as it was posted we ran all the way to Madison Square Garden. The past few weeks Avenged Sevenfold has been giving away tickets for big venues so we figured that we would be a step ahead of the game if we sat there and gave it shot to see if tickets were there. A7X then tweeted the first clue…we knew where we had to go and thankfully we weren’t far away from it. We ran down the street looking for the Hammerstein Ballroom where a guy wearing all black had the first clue for the first 10 people that got there. My friend and I got their pretty quick and we were the 8th and 9th people. All ten of us got at the thing about the same time. Instead of working against each other to get to whatever destination the quickest, we all worked together. After receiving the next clue all of us knew that we had to take the subway because the place wasn’t close. We finally got to the place we needed to be. There was a person outside who told us our next clue and she told us a certain address we had to go to.

We went to the address and it was a very tall building. We all walked inside and wrote down our names and emails on a list for the security guard there. Then in groups of 3 we were sent up and elevator to waiting room outside of the studio. We were told that we were getting to listen to 3 brand new Avenged Sevenfold songs, everyone was pumped. Security checked our bags and made sure no recording devices or anything was with us when we were going to listen. We got the thumbs up by the people that worked for Warner Bros to walk into the studio. After sitting there for a few minutes SYN, ZV, MATT, AND JOHNNY ALL WALK IN. Nobody really had any idea we were going to meet the band. It was rolling in the back of my mind but it seemed like it would be too good to be true. But I was wrong. Everyone including myself were really silent and in complete shock. I COULD NOT believe what I was seeing. The guys then talked to for a little bit and then sat down and told us that we are now going to listen to three brand new songs. The songs are so heavy, groovy, and catchy. Totally different from what the band has ever done. Its hard to explain exactly how each song went after only listening to it once but what I must say is that music is perfection. The last teaser “teaser13” that was released… We got to listen to that whole song. I’m not going to ruin what part of the song that the teaser music appears in, everyone will just have to wait. After listening to the songs we joked around with the guys and then Matt finally asked “any more questions?” and then I spoke up and said “Can we take pictures with you guys?” He responded saying, “Of course.” We ended up taking a lot of pictures with everyone in the band and it was so awesome talking with Shadows one on one. I was talking to him about Call of Duty, songs that they might play in the future, Uproar 2010 and I also mentioned to the guys that I already have 6 tickets to their upcoming shows and they were stoked about that. Zacky kept saying how awesome that is. After a while I took out all 6 A7X CD’s out of my to get them signed. Everything turned out fucking terrific. These guys are so awesome and are the coolest group of guys. After everything was done I asked M Shadows for a shoutout and that was really cool. The best video I have ever took. Syn was the final person I said bye to and he gave me and my friend a big hug. No words can describe how awesome of an experience this whole thing was…it was a “you had to be there” type of moment the whole time. I am incredibly thankful for Avenged Sevenfold for doing this, I can easily say it was the best day of my life. It wasn’t luck that I met them, it was hard work and patience after all of the years of trying to get to meet them. Fucking amazing.

HOLLY: After a lot of airline trouble, cancelled flights and 30 long and exhausting hours of flying, my friend and I finally arrived in New York City (we’re from Melbourne, Australia). It was our last day in the city and it had been raining, so we chilled in Starbucks where we got connected to WiFi. We saw photos of Avenged Sevenfold on their way to a photo shoot from the day before and got sad, because they were in New York and we were in New

York. We were so close, yet so far.

We then saw their tweets about playing a little game and waiting for the signal, so we sat around in Starbucks waiting and waiting and eventually got tired of waiting. An hour later, Avenged Sevenfold tweeted the first clue which just so happened to be on 34th Street. We thought there was no way we’d get it, because it was for only 10 people. Along with that, we were foreigners who were suffering from jet lag and just exhausted from all that traveling. We were also not familiar with the city at all. But we searched on Google maps for the location and luckily enough, it was just a street away from our hotel. We studied the map, bolted out the door and ran for our lives. We got there just in time and were the last two people. We were given blue wristbands, the next clue and got paired up with a very helpful girl, Kya.

It seems as if none of us really knew what was going to happen, because the man in black said ‘he can’t say much’ about what is going to happen. Everyone in the group stuck together to get the next clue. When we got to Irving Plaza, we got sent straight to the last location, which was a recording studio. When we got there, we had to sign in and got detected to see if any of us had any hidden recording devices on our bodies. Eventually they let us into the recording studio and were told that the band was on their way. At this point, my friend and I were just crazy overwhelmed, jet lag and absolutely delirious. When the band entered the studio, they were all incredibly happy looking. They were so nice; they shook everyone’s hand and greeted everyone. After that, Matt talked about the album for a bit and then they played three of the songs. The songs are definitely heavier and Matt has described the new stuff as ‘having more of a groove’ to it. While the songs were playing, Johnny, Zacky and Syn also stood behind my friend and I and they acknowledged my deathbat tattoo and gave me the thumbs up. After the songs, there was a Q&A with the band and someone asked about Matt’s hair. Matt said that he didn’t want to do anything to his hair until the album was done, and that he might even get cornrows next. He also says that he does see what everyone says about his hair on social network sites and that people always kick up a fuss when any of the guys change their image. The guys also spoke a bit about Syn’s Rihanna inspired hair, their upcoming tours and baseball. We then got to chat with the guys individually. I asked Zacky for the location of The Rev’s drum kit in the Hard Rock because my friend and I were going to Las Vegas soon. He gave us the directions and we saw it a week later. We also asked him about an Australian tour, and he said everything is being booked now. Johnny and Syn then came and chatted to us and asked us where we were from. They also asked us about our trip and how long we’d been in the country. We said that we didn’t know and that we didn’t even know what day it was and they just laughed. Syn also said we were brave to take on ‘big bad New York’ by ourselves. Johnny said that even he doesn’t walk around alone in New York. He also remembered that we were going to Vegas and says that he loves Vegas, although he doesn’t remember much of Vegas. We then got to tell them some of the stuff we’ve done for the band.

My friend and I live in separate cities, she’s from Hobart and I’m from Melbourne. Back in 2011, when Avenged toured Australia, they didn’t play in her hometown and it was 48 hours prior to their show in Melbourne when I convinced her to come to the show. She didn’t have tickets, flights or her parent’s permission to go, but we managed to book flights and get a ticket. My friend flew out of the state behind her parent’s back to see this band and back home without her parents ever finding out. My friend got to tell the guys her story and they were all pretty impressed and Zacky called her a ‘badass’. And I got to tell them about how I got kicked out for a few days for getting an Avenged tattoo. We then got photos with the band, and Matt and Syn also acknowledged my tattoo and said it was awesome. We then got a group photo with all the winners and the band. After about an hour of chilling and hanging out with the band, we had to leave because the band had to get back to work. When we left the studio, Syn was at the exit. He gave us hugs, told us to take care of ourselves, enjoy the rest of our trip and thanked us for coming. We thanked him for the experience. When my friend and I left the building, we bounced our way down the street squealing and we could not believe what had just happened and we just wanted to cry happy tears, but we were just in too much shock to even cry.

Avenged Sevenfold are the nicest, coolest and most chilled guys ever. And this experience was just ever so surreal. We want to thank them for making our trip to the US so memorable and that we can’t wait to see them in Australia!