Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk” that he won’t end the band’s farewell tour with a show that includes all surviving original members due to a rift with one of them and out of fairness to other former members, according to transcript of the interview by Blabbermouth.net.
Mustaine, 64, the founding frontman of the pioneering thrash metal band in 1983, told Trunk that the reasons for the 2021 departure of original Megadeth bass player David Ellefson remained unresolved.
And, Mustaine added, it wouldn’t be fair to exclude any of the band’s subsequent guitarists in favor of Marty Friedman.
“I can’t really do that, because of the behavior of one of the bandmembers in the past,” Mustaine, 64, told Trunk, according to Blabbermouth’s transcript. “I just can’t — I can’t. Because, first off, it would be unfair to the other band members if I didn’t play with them as well.”
Mustaine, a singer, songwriter and guitarist of the band that has sold 50 million records worldwide, acknowledged that the band’s shows in 2023 and 2024 reuniting with former guitarist in Tokyo after more than two decades years were an emotional and artistic triumph for all involved. But Mustaine said a show involving other surviving past members — namely guitarists Chris Poland and Jeff Young, not to mention Ellefson — would be a different matter entirely.
“The thing about what we did with Marty in Japan, that was a no-brainer,“ Mustaine said. ”That was brilliant. And 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,” Mustaine added. “My relationship with Chris was really great, but it wasn’t as good as it was with Marty. My relationship with Jeff was good, but it wasn’t as good as it was with Marty.”
And nothing short of a divine command performance could reunite Megadeth with its late drummer Gar Samuelson on drums.
“I probably wouldn’t have a problem playing with any of the members of those two lineups,” Mustaine said of the band’s earlier and later iterations, “except the fact that Gar’s deceased, and (I’m) just not gonna do anything that is gonna, in any way, seem unfair to the other bandmembers.”
Megadeth’s farewell concert series is part of the “Run for Your Lives” tour headlined by Iron Maiden with special guest Anthrax, which includes a New Jersey stop on Sept. 5, 2026, at Sport Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, formerly known as Red Bull Arena.
The band’s current lineup features Mustaine on uitar and vocals, bassist James LoMenzo, drummer Dirk Verbeuren, and guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari.