AVENGED SEVENFOLD will be forced to miss tonight's (Friday, May 12) concert at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the support act for METALLICA after the band's guitarist, Synyster Gates, flew home to be with his wife Michelle who unexpectedly went into early labor with the birth of their first child.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD will be back on stage with METALLICA this Sunday, May 14 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD said in a statement: "Sending love to our brother Synyster Gates, who flew home to be with his wife Michelle, who unexpectedly went into early labor with the birth of their first child. Unfortunately, this also means we won't be able to play tonight's gig with METALLICA. We'll miss seeing you all but know you're in for an incredible show with the mighty METALLICA and VOLBEAT. Please join us in welcoming the newest member of the A7X family and thanks so much for your support and understanding. We'll see you all Sunday in New Jersey."

Speaking to Finland's Radio Rock in March, Gates said that he was "really excited" about playing with METALLICA again. "I think it's an absolute honor and a privilege and we're the luckiest band in the world to be taken in by such a legendary act," he said. "During our formative years, it was all about, 'What did METALLICA do?' and 'How do we do that?' and then you try and find an identity of your own, but they're still… They were the pioneers and the trailblazers. And they still do that stuff. We go and do a surprise release and then they do twelve videos for their record and have unbelievable success, and you're, like, 'Damn! That's pretty cool what they did, huh?' So we're always having those moments and it's really cool to see them continue to trailblaze and pioneer, and they're helping us and taking us along for the ride, and we couldn't appreciate it any more."

Asked if he still gets starstruck when hanging out with members of METALLICA, Gates said: "Yeah, definitely. I remember in Berlin when we played with METALLICA for the first time, and Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] came in. And you see how… He's as crazy and amped as you see on YouTube or whatever, but just the nicest guy. He comes in just full of fucking energy. That's Lars. Lars Ulrich is Lars Ulrich, on camera, off camera, and I had no clue how fucking sweet that guy is. He invited us to sing on stage, sing a RAMONES song that night, and it was just incredible. And that's just the type of guys that they all are — incredible human beings and people. And they inspire you to be better people. You wanna be better to your tour family, your home family… I mean, just because you're fucking rich and really successful doesn't mean that you need to be a dick. You can actually be nicer than everybody, which METALLICA has proven to do."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD is touring in support of its seventh album, "The Stage", which was released at the end of October with almost no promotion beforehand.

The surprise release of the disc, which was announced the night it went on sale, earned the lowest sales of an AVENGED album in 11 years. It sold 76,000 copies in its first week, 73,000 of which were physical.