{"id":220443,"date":"2026-01-06T23:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/220443\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:41:19","slug":"its-not-puppet-show-megadeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/220443\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s not puppet show Megadeth\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Mustaine<\/a> has confirmed that he won\u2019t be inviting previous members to perform with Megadeth<\/a> as part of their farewell tour, saying he doesn\u2019t want it to feel like a \u201cpuppet show\u201d.<\/p>\n

The thrash metal icons announced last year that they were going to be calling it a day, releasing their final album in 2026 and heading out on their last ever tour.<\/a><\/p>\n

Explaining the decision to end the band, Mustaine said at the time that he has noticed how most artists \u201cdon\u2019t get to go out on their own terms on top\u201d, and since he feels like he is at that point \u201cright now\u201d it only felt right to bring things to an end.<\/p>\n

Since announcing the news that their days of touring will be drawing to a close, the frontman has answered various questions about how the band will wrap things up \u2013 including sharing that he would like for their final show to take place in space<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, he has looked back at the rich history of musicians who have been a part of the line-up since the band formed in 1983, and shut down hopes that past members will be taking to the stage as part of the upcoming tour.<\/p>\n

When asked in the latest issue of Guitar World<\/a> whether he is planning on bringing back some ex-members for the event, Mustaine responded: \u201cWe\u2019ve already done that with Marty [Friedman, former guitarist who returned for a surprise appearance in 2023]\u2026 And I mean, let\u2019s look at the other people we\u2019ve played with, there\u2019s a lot of people. That would be a huge undertaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI don\u2019t think I want to do that. I\u2019d rather keep doing what we\u2019re doing and let the fans [experience] Megadeth music and be happy about it. It\u2019s not \u2018puppet show Megadeth.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments align with what the thrash icon told Eddie Trunk last month, when he was asked on SiriusXM if surviving members could be making a surprise appearance at the final gig of the tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t \u2014 I can\u2019t. Because, first off, it would be unfair to the other band members if I didn\u2019t play with them as well,\u201d he said, also going on to again look back at the 2023 reunion with Friedman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about what we did with Marty in Japan, that was a no-brainer. That was brilliant,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd I love Marty. We had our separation, and he went his way and we went our way. But it was a very, very intense relationship I had with Marty, because that was the first relationship I had with a guitar player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustaine went on to say that while he got on with other guitarists like Chris Poland and Jeff Young, neither were \u201cas good as it was with Marty\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t have a problem playing with any of the members of those two line-ups, except the fact that Gar [Samuelson, former drummer,] is deceased,\u201d he then told Trunk. \u201cI\u2019m just not going to do anything that is going to, in any way, seem unfair to the other band members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other comments Mustaine has made about the final tour include suggesting that the farewell shows could last \u201cfor another three to five years\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He has also previously revealed that the band will be covering Metallica classic \u2018Ride The Lightning\u2019 for their final album,<\/a> explaining: \u201cOne of the songs is a cover song but I actually wrote it, so it\u2019s kind of like a cover, kind of like my song.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, the upcoming self-titled album \u2013 which is out on January 23 and will be their 17th studio release \u2013 has been previewed by three singles: \u2018Tipping Point<\/a>\u2019, \u2018I Don\u2019t Care\u2019 and \u2018Let There Be Shred<\/a>\u2019. Visit here<\/a> to pre-order the record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Mustaine has confirmed that he won\u2019t be inviting previous members to perform with Megadeth as part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,1614,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-220443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}