Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and his affair with Argentine fans
Herald staff
In their long-running affair with the Argentine audience, Megadeth have visited here no less than six times, played at least 12 shows — excluding several acoustic sets in different locations from malls to radio stations and even the San Martín square in downtown Buenos Aires!
In addition, Megadeth recorded a live concert on DVD (That One Night In Buenos Aires) and even dedicated a song to their Argentine fans on their 1999 album Risk (I’ll Be There For You), played live only during the That One Night concert in 2005. In spite of all of the above, Megadeth’s performance at the Luna Park stadium last week (their 13th concert in Buenos Aires) was not just another tour date.
With bass player Dave Ellefson (from the original lineup) back onboard after an eight-year fallout with band leader Dave Mustaine (singer, guitarist, songwriter and, in other words, Megadeth himself), the band continued the South American leg of their Rust In Peace 20th anniversary. It meant the band would play the whole nine songs from their 1990 masterpiece — arguably one of the best metal albums of all time — in the very same order as the original record.
With only one date (not enough for for a band that played two soldout gigs at the same venue two years ago) tickets vanished in less than a week. It was Wednesday night, the venue was packed, and nearly a hundred people hang outside the stadium, begging for a resale.
But only a few thousand Megadeth fans were able to witness what was going to be, without a doubt, a memorable concert. Let’s face it, things had to go really wrong to ruin a concert that would include the entire Rust in Peace tracklist.
Even though they had to do without the classic lineup (drummer Nick Menza, and guitar player Marty Friedman), Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick proved be solid replacements on the band’s previous visits.
The scenography at the Luna Park was exactly the same as in the original tour, and it only took Mustaine three songs into the show to announce what everyone in the venue was expecting.
“We know we’re all here for one reason,” the red-haired guitarist said, holding the signature model of his Dean guitar with the album cover on it before the first chords from the memorable riff from Holy Wars: The Punishment Due.
It didn’t really matter that the song has been a staple in every Megadeth concert for the last two decades, usually saved for the show’s end. This time it was the real deal: it marked the beginning of a concert most fans would not even dare dream about only a year ago or less.
Right after this impressive kickoff, the speed metal symphony called Hangar 18 created a special bond between Megadeth and their Argentine fans, with the crowd actually roaring “ME-GA-DETH!” to the double-bass rhythm, almost like hooligans during a soccer match.
Halfway through the song, a teenage boy climbed onstage and hugged Mustaine before jumping back into the crowd. It was too late for security guards were to get hold of him.
The whole stadium gave the kid a big round of applause for his daredevil act, but Mustaine has stated that, since the murder of Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (shot dead on stage during a concert in Ohio in 2004) he has become very wary of security, barely leaving hotels while on tour. This may probably explain why the band took nearly ten minutes to come back on stage after the song. Organizers argued technical problems, but it is not hard to imagine Mustaine screaming at the security guy who failed to see the kid coming.
It took the band a couple of songs to get back on track, to the concert’s mood at the beginning. Not even the ferocious Take No Prisoners or the rarely-played Five Magics were able to restore the mood. The crowd seemed to have cooled off.
It was only when Dave Ellefson — alone onstage under the spotlight — played the first lines of Poison Was the Cure that the audience seemed to have swung back to the warm atmosphere palpable at the beginning. Also, the minute-and-a-half intro before the song kicks in with one of Megadeth’s sharpest riffs was the fans’ opportunity to welcome back the legendary bass player after an eight-year absence.
After the complex structure of Lucretia, the long-time classic Tornado of Souls drove the crowd on the verge of insanity, so much so that Ellefson had to repeat his solo sequence. This time it was the instrumental version of Dawn Patrol, which only increased the fans’ hunger in anticipation of the memorable Rust In Peace: Polaris. It is hard to understand why the song was dropped from the band’s setlist over the years).
It was little more than an hour into the concert, but the mission had already been accomplished. Mustaine could have gone ahead and call it a night with his trademark “You’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth” line right there and hardly anyone would have complained, no matter how much money they had to dish out.
The decision to place the Rust in Peace segment on top of the setlist eventually boosted the raw power of the songs from their new record, such as the energetic Head Crusher or The Right to Go Insane. However, it was the 90’s classics — the beautiful A tout le monde or the fan-fave Trust (probably Megadeth’s last real-classic song to the date) that claimed the biggest ovations. And let’s not leave aside Symphony of Destruction, and the infamous “Aguante Megadeth!” chant on top of the riff — before closing the show with the legendary Peace Sells, the song that, in Mustaine’s own words, proved to the mass media that metalheads actually had something to say, and that their lyrics were rich in political content.
One way or another, the charismatic Dave Mustaine always finds the way to give a special feel to each Megadeth gig in Argentina. The sound at the Luna Park may not have been crystal-clear, as was the case on previous occasions, but it is unlikely that anyone left the arena with any complaint. This was a concert that metal fans in attendance will surely brag about for years to come. Only the few who got in will be able to say, “I saw Megadeth play Rust In Peace complete.“ Not an easy one to beat.
THE RED-HEAD’S SYMPHONY
Dave Mustaine learned to play fast by striking guitar along Iron Maiden LPs at 45rpm instead of 33 1/2. That way, he managed to achieve an outstanding speed with his fingers that would become one of his trademarks over the years.
In 1981, Mustaine joined thrash-metal pioneers Metallica, playing for two years before being fired. Mustaine is credited as co-author of four songs on Metallica’s debut Kill ’Em All (1983) and two others on Ride the Lightning (1984).
Following his departure from Metallica, Mustaine formed his own project: Megadeth, which quickly made a name for themselves among the “Big Four” thrash metal bands (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) with their début album Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good! in 1985.
Since their inception, Megadeth were praised for their complex and fast riffing, often described as “a jazz band playing speed metal,” and their 1991 masterpiece Rust In Peace was arguably the peak of their career.
During the 90’s Megadeth turned to a more mid-paced sound more oriented to the traditional song format rather than the epic compositions of their early days. Unlike most cases, fans took the change really well, and the band jumped to the summit of their successful career during that decade — that is, until the traditional Mustaine-Friedman- Ellefson- Menza lineup split circa 1999.
In early 2002, an arm injury forced Mustaine to stop playing and Megadeth officially disbanded. However, after a two-year recovery, Mustaine eventually put together a new lineup and reformed the band.
Since then, in spite of constant lineup changes, Megadeth have returned to their thrash metal roots, which revived their popularity among the heavy metal fans, especially with the release of their latest album Endgame in 2009, with several nods to the Rust In Peace era while keeping some melodies from the 90s.
After almost three decades on the road, business is still good for Megadeth.
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