On Sunday night, in Dorrego and Corrientes, the driver of one of the bus lines that stops there asks users to get on without paying. I don’t know if it’s because of the wave or because of the rush. Everyone who does it just got out of the second show Megadeth at the Movistar Arena, so the joy, impervious to the rain and dense humidity that awaits the exit, also overflows into the bondi. With the closing of doors, the feeling, more than confusion, is one of brotherhood. To the point that it looks like one of those hired buses that you usually see parked at the end of recitals. Then a fan asks for applause for the initiative. Followed by the harangue: “The driver, the driver, hold on the driver”, adapting that section of “Symphony of Destruction”, anthem of the metal band, manufactured in Argentina (originally verses: “Megadeth, Megadeth, hold on Megadeth”) .
The great hit of those led by the singer, composer and guitarist Dave Mustaine was not lacking in this return to the local stages. Very emotional return because it was his reunion with the Argentine public after recovering from throat cancer which kept him out of activity between 2019 and 2020. The frontman himself even confessed not only the feeling of rage that overwhelmed him when the diagnosis was revealed to him, but also that he feared for his life. Quite a paradox after having survived the excesses during his time in Metallica, at the beginning of the group, which earned him his dismissal. This was followed, in the early 2000s, by the consequences of a kidney stone. That is why it is no coincidence that his latest album, released in 2022, is titled The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! (in Spanish, “The sick, the dying… and the dead!”).
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The song that gives its name to the album raised the curtain on the two indelible recitals that the group gave so far at the Villa Crespo venue (the first happened on Saturday and the triad ends this Tuesday). But Mustaine’s resilient manifesto lies in the other song from the sixteenth album that was included in the repertoire of these shows: “We’ll Be Back.” “I am a soldier of fortune, torture and pain”, says one of the passages from the first single of this material, while the chorus warns: “Just when you think it’s safe, I attack. We’ll be back. When you least expect your destiny, I attack. We’ll be back”. This new assault on the city also served to introduce the brand new lineup: the American bassist James LoMenzo (he held that role between 2006 and 2010), the Finnish guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, and the Belgian drummer Dirk Verbeuren (the only one who recorded on the album ).
The performance advanced with “Dread and the Fugitive Mind”, in which Mustaine gave the spotlight to Mäntysaari, standing behind him. Although the leader and only founding member of Megadeth He began performing in the center of the stage, during the hour and a half of the recital he alternated positions with the other guitarist and the bassist, as if it were a choreography. However, the Nordic, whose past included his foray into the melodic death metal group Imperanon, once again took center stage in “Skin o’ My Teeth.” Another classic from the album Countdown to Extinction (1992): masterpiece of both Megadeth and thrash metal, a genre of which they continue to be the spearhead. Although they previously made the heavy metal “Angry Again” (according to legend, its melody is inspired by “Should I Stay or Should I Go”, by The Clash), opening the game of styles.
“Wake Up Dead” changed the rhythmic direction. While the drummer proposed a path, the guitars dialogued with each other from absorption and with long chords. To then find themselves in the same dynamic, where the viola solos ended up ruling. However, Verbeuren regained control and guided the finale towards a circumstance that bordered on the epic. An angry one, with pogo included. This led to the applause, in every way possible. Even two crutches rose from the front of the field. And Mustaine returned those cheers with a musketeer-style bow. Next, the musicians left the scene, and two minutes later the frontman returned to present, when the deafening “olé, olé, Mustaine” allowed him to, the seminal “In My Darkest Hour”. “We haven’t played this song in a long time,” he noted.
From that moment on, Megadeth came and went on the scene constantly. Which fueled the expectation. Just as it has been happening on their South American tour, the repertoire varied. Although there was a base songbook, there were songs from the first date that were not repeated in the second. “Angry Again” was not in the game on Friday, as were “She Wolf” and “Devil’s Island.” He also changed the order of the topics. This shortlist of shows at the Movistar Arena takes place seven years after their last landing in the country, and coincided with the celebration of the three decades of its Buenos Aires debut in Obras Sanitarias. As in those five recitals in a row, the band played “Countdown to Extinction” on this occasion. In the same way as “Hangar 18” and “Sweating Bullets”, a kind of rock and roll that started with Verbeuren improvising a preview standing from the drums.
To that beating of hair and arms that accompanied this trident of classics, Mustaine thanked with kisses and greetings with both hands in the air. He walked the stage from one end to the other, after emerging from the darkness of the back room. There appeared “Trust”, which had as its preamble that environmental trace that is built from introspection. Which gave rise to the drummer and bassist to start a dialogue, paving the way for the roar of the guitars. If that was possibly the most pop song that came out of both recitals, there is no doubt that “A Tout Le Monde” became the topic of the fans. And the Californian icon of extreme tendencies let them sing it almost in its entirety. “You guys are incredible,” the 62-year-old musician complimented as soon as he finished. But he did not let the moment cool down, which he knew how to take advantage of by invoking the swift “Tornado of Souls”.
The 14,000 people who filled the stadium jumped from their seats and off the ground when they heard the beginning of “Symphony of Destruction,” which has become an Argentine custom. In the midst of the collective madness, they performed “Peace Sells”, where the Vic Rattlehead (characteristic skull on the covers of Megadeth albums) who until a while ago was in the audience taking photos, came up to dance. It was the end of the show. Although all those black shirts asked for one more, and Mustaine didn’t refuse. After showing off his iconic red Gibson Flying V electric guitar, appeared with a model with the Argentine flag stamped on the body of the instrument. His eloquence is based on gestures like that. However, before unsheathing “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due,” the singer and guitarist had time for a few more words: “Honestly, you guys are the best audience.”
