Dave Mustaine & Megadeth – House of Blues – Boston, MA – June 25, 2017
Megadeth’s and Metallica’s DNA will forever be intertwined as both bands helped define the thrash and speed metal genre that emerged on both coasts of the United States in the early to mid 1980’s.
There’s also the other obvious connection between Megadeth and Metallica as anyone reading this article is likely more than familiar with the pair’s shared history.
However, it would be short sighted to fixate on the personal history between the two metal titans, as it’s each of these bands’ impact and influence within the world of heavy metal that matters far more.
Hetfield, Ulrich, and Mustaine took the genre of music that Black Sabbath cooked up back in 1970 and added the elements of thrash and speed. In doing so they simultaneously laid down the foundation for aggressive metal to have its place in music for generations to come.
And let’s be honest here, Mustaine likely long ago came to the conclusion that he’ll never be able to completely shake the shadow that Metallica cast over him since his unceremonious ousting from the group and his formation of Megadeth in the aftermath.
Perhaps the Big Four shows a few years back, as well as winning a Grammy after being nominated for the eleventh time this past February for 2016’s Dystopia, finally laid to rest any ill will Mustaine once harbored for his former band.
A peculiar thing though has happened over the course of the last thirty plus years regarding the gap between Metallica and Megadeth in terms of their stature within the metal community amongst the hard line faithful.
There are more than a few old school metal fans that view Metallica as a legacy thrash and speed act that long since abandoned the genre for the riches and global popularity mainstream success have provided them.
Additionally, there could be a valid argument to be made that although Metallica’s first three records could go down as three of the most important albums in heavy metal history, Megadeth’s body of recorded material may very well be superior in overall quality when comparing each bands’ complete discography.
This alteration in the perception of each band could also be attributed in part to the fact that Metallica willfully chose to abandon traditional metal with the release of the self-titled Metallica, otherwise known as the “Black” album, in 1991.
In doing so they opened the door for bands like Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax to further endear themselves to the hard core thrash audience they were choosing to leave behind.
This condition may be best explained by simply describing how truly divergent the Metallica and Megadeth concert experiences are these days. Although Metallica may play to tens of thousands on any given night, their live shows are at times as much about spectacle and the opportunity to take in a one of a kind visual experience, than they are about the actual music.
Conversely attending a Megadeth concert, such as the show the band recently played to an at capacity House of Blues in Boston, can make one feel as though they’ve been transported back to the thrash heyday of the 1980’s.
Mustaine, long time bandmate and bassist David Ellefson, as well as new comers guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren, delivered a performance in Boston that was not only fiery in every sense of the word, it was also one that came across as deeply sincere and even playful at times.
When Mustaine and company played Megadeth classics such as show opener “Hanger 18”, “Tornado of Souls,” “Peace Sells” and set closer “Holy Wars…. The Punishment Due” the energy inside the venue percolated to an almost voltaic level of intensity.
More than a few circle pits would materialize out of nowhere throughout the course of the evening, while the more sedentary fans would go on to engage in several impromptu sing-a-longs with Mustaine as Megadeth’s post-apocalyptic imagery played behind the band throughout the duration of the performance.
Megadeth’s official mascot Vic Rattlehead even chose to make a few appearances on the night. Rising from out of the shadows initially during Dystopia track “Conquer or Dire” and then again during “Peace Sells.”
The band’s talisman evilly pandered about the stage attempting to engage in mortal combat with band members one moment, while menacingly taunting random fans in the audience the next.
It wouldn’t be a Megadeth show if the irascible Mustaine didn’t engage the crowd in some sort of humorous banter. This time around the front man’s ire would be directed towards a muscle bound head banger that kept interrupting him as he was attempting to tell a story.
At one point the lead singer directly called out the pumped up audience member stating, “I’m waiting for you to shut the fuck up so I can tell a story bro. Go fucking shoot some steroids outside, I don’t care. You don’t have to be quiet, just don’t be a dick.”
Mustaine then went on to spin a yarn about how he and Ellefson had played a show in Northern Ireland a long time ago and that during the concert he apparently at one point had said to the audience before slugging down a Guinness, “Give Ireland back to the Irish, this one is for the cause.”
The “cause” of course being a reference to the ideology of Irish Repulicanism, a topic that most Irish residents don’t take all too lightly today, let alone back in the much more volatile and active IRA days of the 1980’s.
The “cause” is also a deeply personal Irish issue as it cuts across political, religious, and even ancestral lines in Ireland. In other words it’s subject matter that may be best left to those in Ireland to debate, or even toast, versus the lead singer of a thrash metal band from across the pond.
Well apparently Mustaine’s political and semi-quasi religious musings didn’t go over too well as the following morning he was informed by Ellefson that they had to be escorted out of the city in a bullet proof van the night previous because of his ramblings.
According to Mustaine the incident inspired him to pen one of Megadeth’s most revered songs the very next day, “Holy Wars,” which the band would go on to play next and the track that would also serve as the concert’s swan song.
It should be noted that the newer Megadeth material played on the evening, which included songs such as “Fatal Illusion,” Poisonous Shadows” and “Dystopia,” all fit in nicely with the classics.
These more recent tracks seamlessly blended into the overall pacing of the set quite nicely while also giving fans reasons to believe that Megadeth has more than a few resplendent records up their sleeves before they may call it quits someday.
It’s also worth mentioning the rejuvenated vigor in which Megadeth seem to be playing with on this current tour cycle. Perhaps this resurgence can be attributed to somewhat of a return to form in terms of the band’s recorded material.
2016’s Dystopia is a more aphotic and heavier record with the album aligning more sonically with Megadeth staples such as “So Far, So Good…. So What!” and “Rust in Peace.”
Additionally, new band members Louriero and Verbeuren, both of whom were brought into the fold by Mustaine following the unexpected departures of both guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer and Shawn Drover back in 2014, have breathed new life into the band’s live shows.
Louriero is not your typical snarl in place, look evil and play killer riffs type of metal axe slinger. Instead the Brazilian guitarist is a whirling dervish of riff ferocity and hyper activity.
Louriero as it turns out is the perfect foil for the more stoic Mustaine, as his Tasmanian Devil guitar stylings are not only technically jaw dropping, his energy on stage draws the audience that much further into Megadeth’s evil sonic web.
Drummer Dirk Verbeuren, primarily known for his time in Swedish death metal stalwarts Soilwork, is as entertaining as any metal drummer out there touring day and much like every player in Megadeth, the Belgian’s level of musicianship is beyond reproach.
There’s just something about Verbeuren’s play style, mechanics and sound that seem reminiscent of classic Megadeth era drummer Nick Menza. Perhaps this a figment of on an overworked imagination or maybe Verbeuren’s just the right fit for Megadeth on numerous levels, similarly to the way Brooks Wackerman seemed destined to become Avenged Sevenfold’s new drummer.
Even long time Megadeth bassist Ellefson, as well as Mustaine himself, seem to both be playing with an amped up, almost youthful enthusiasm on this current tour run. And really how could the pair not be excited right now?
Dystopia was critically well received by the music industry and the fans, the Recording Academy recognized the album via awarding it the Grammy for Best Metal Performance this past year and fans are also still coming out in droves to see Megadeth perform live.
All of this could lead some to conclude that Megadeth may actually be morphing into a more positive, more accessible and dare I say, more affable band. Oh the horror.
Should this sentiment actually hold true it may be wise to never let Mustaine in on the secret. A metal world without an at least sometimes acerbic Mustaine would likely be one none of us would want to live in.
The biggest takeaways from Megadeth’s performance in Boston this past weekend may be rooted in the simplistic. The connections fans made with one another, with the band onstage and ultimately with the music itself are the exact elements that combine to make the heavy metal community’s bonds with one another so concrete and so ever lasting.
And that right there may be the essence of what separates a band like Megadeth from a band like Metallica as both bands approach their 40th year in existence.
Megadeth’s live performances still have this uncanny ability to make those in attendance feel like the angst riddled teenagers that would steal ten dollars from their mom’s purse to buy a cassette copy of Killing Is My Business… And Business is Good from their local Strawberries or Tape World.
The band’s concerts also continue to bond friends, family and strangers in ways that we all seemed to be able to do more effortlessly before mortgages, ISIS and other real world impediments became barriers to our being able to do something as trivial as banging our heads to evil riffs.
I suppose at the end of the day is there any greater gift that music bestows upon the world than providing its inhabitants with the opportunity to make them feel like kids again?
Hats off to Megadeth for reminding everyone in Boston that it’s still okay for adults to crash and bang into one another while singing songs about end times, corporate greed and social anarchy. Long live Megadeth, long live Dave Mustaine and love live the once and future kings of thrash.
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All Writing & Photography: Robert Forte
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