Dave Mustaine has ruled out the possibility of former band members performing with Megadeth on their final tour.
In a new interview with Guitar World (as reported by Contact Music), Mustaine was asked if there were plans to bring out any old members, like the band had previously done by inviting former guitarist Marty Friedman onstage in Japan and at Wacken Open Air in 2023.
“We’ve already done that with Marty,” Dave responded, in reference to the aforementioned performance. “And I mean, let’s look at the other people we’ve played with… there’s a lot of people. [Laughs] That would be a huge undertaking. I don’t think I want to do that. I’d rather keep doing what we’re doing and let the fans [experience] Megadeth music and be happy about it. It’s not ‘puppet show Megadeth.’”
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Mustaine’s latest remarks align with comments he made during an interview with Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk in early December. There, he indirectly mentioned ousted bassist David Ellefson while conceding that he simply couldn’t invite all of the former members he would want to perform with. Out of fairness, he’s not asking anyone.
Asked by Trunk if he would consider any onstage reunions, Mustaine replied (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Well, I can’t really do that, because of the behavior of one of the band members in the past. 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 went on to say that he “probably wouldn’t have a problem playing with any of the members” of Megadeth’s two classic lineups that featured guitarists Chris Poland and Friedman, respectively (Ellefson notwithstanding), but added that he’s “just not gonna do anything that is gonna, in any way, seem unfair to the other band members.”
The first dates of Megadeth’s farewell tour kick off in February with a Canadian headlining run following the release of the band’s final album on January 23rd. Get tickets here.
