{"id":808990,"date":"2026-10-20T21:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T21:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808990\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T21:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T21:16:13","slug":"megadeths-dave-mustaine-explains-why-he-wasnt-at-black-sabbaths-back-to-the-beginning-and-why-the-thrashers-probably-wont-have-their-own-star-studded-fare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808990\/","title":{"rendered":"Megadeth\u2019s Dave Mustaine explains why he wasn\u2019t at Black Sabbath\u2019s Back To The Beginning \u2013 and why the thrashers probably won\u2019t have their own star-studded farewell show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Megadeth<\/a> mainman Dave Mustaine has explained why his Grammy-winning thrash metal<\/a> band didn\u2019t play Black Sabbath<\/a>\u2019s star-studded farewell show, Back To The Beginning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the singer\/guitarist, 65, says that he and his bandmates didn\u2019t know about the event \u2013 which had Metallica<\/a>, Tool, Guns N\u2019 Roses and dozens more on the bill \u2013 until after the lineup had been put together. They found out when news broke that one artist had been dropped for demanding payment, despite it being a non-profit charity gig.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat we had heard was some scuttlebutt in one of the bands, and they never said who it was, they had asked for an exorbitant amount of money,\u201d the Symphony Of Destruction songwriter tells us. \u201cAnd I guess that was something that was in really bad form. I don\u2019t know any more about it, but that was not us. We were over in Europe playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Even though Megadeth weren\u2019t involved in the all-day extravaganza at Birmingham\u2019s Villa Park, which took place two weeks before Ozzy Osbourne<\/a>\u2019s death aged 76 in July 2025, Mustaine adds that he\u2019d \u201cdo anything\u201d for Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy\u2019s widow and the event\u2019s organiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to play a show for her and her husband and helping with the grieving process, I\u2019m all about that, because they were there for me,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen Sharon got sick the first time [getting diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002], I sent her a bunch of roses and said \u2018get well soon\u2019 because of her kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really thought that that would go any further than that, but as soon as I got sick [battling throat cancer in 2019], her and [Ozzy] were right there. They called me not long after the diagnosis had come out and I thought it was really commendable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the interview, Mustaine is asked if Megadeth, who announced their impending retirement in August 2025, would host their own Back To The Beginning-style sendoff. While Mustaine would \u201clove to do something like that\u201d, he believes it\u2019s sometimes \u201ca little self-serving to do stuff like that\u201d: \u201cIt\u2019d have to be done with grace and style, like the Osbournes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He adds that he doesn\u2019t \u201chave a lot of guys that I\u2019ve [kept up] with in the music business\u201d: \u201cThey\u2019re just afraid to come up and talk to me. I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s kinda lame. I feel like a self-ostracised loner, sometimes. I love the idea of what we\u2019re doing: touring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megadeth released their 17th and final album<\/a>, a self-titled effort, in January. It was the first album of their 43-year career to top the US Billboard 200 charts. Their farewell tour started in the summer and will continue with a run of European and UK shows in the New Year, with Black Label Society and Testament supporting. See dates below and get tickets now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mustaine published In My Darkest Hour, a memoir about his cancer battle, via Da Capo last month. In an extract shared exclusively with Metal Hammer<\/a>, the frontman recalled how his former Metallica bandmate James Hetfield rallied behind him following his June 2019 diagnosis.<\/p>\n

“Hearing from him just as I was about to begin treatment, when I was at a pretty low point, meant a lot to me,\u201d Mustaine wrote. \u201cFuck the drama. Be a human being. And don\u2019t do it for clout or likes on social media. Pick up the damn phone and reach out. Privately. One to one. That\u2019s what James did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back To The Beginning raised an estimated combined total of \u00a36\u2013\u00a37 million for the charities Birmingham Children\u2019s Hospital, Acorns Children\u2019s Hospice and Cure Parkinson\u2019s. An abridged concert film, containing snippets of each of the sets performed that day, hits cinemas next week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Megadeth 2027 European tour dates:Mar 09: Belfast The O2, UKMar 11: London OVO Arena Wembley, UKMar 12: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UKMar 13: Manchester Co-op Live, UKMar 15: Cardiff Utilita Arena, UKMar 16: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UKMar 18: Birmingham BP Pulse Live, UKMar 19: Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, UKMar 21: Paris Zenith, FranceMar 23: Brussels Forest National, BelgiumMar 25: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, GermanyMar 27: Copenhagen KB Hallen, DenmarkMar 28: Oslo Spektrum, NorwayMar 30: Hamburg Sporthalle, GermanyApr 01: Berlin Velodrom, GermanyApr 02: Krakow Tauron Arena, PolandApr 04: Munich Zenith, GermanyApr 05: Bern Festhalle, SwitzerlandApr 06: Milan Unipol Forum, ItalyApr 08: Lyon Halle Tony Garnier, FranceApr 10: Barcelona Olimpic Arena, SpainApr 12: madrid Movistar Arena, SpainApr 13: Lisbon Sagres Camp Pequeno, Portugal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Megadeth mainman Dave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-808990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}