Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine has explained why his Grammy-winning thrash metal band didn’t play Black Sabbath’s star-studded farewell show, Back To The Beginning.
Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the singer/guitarist, 65, says that he and his bandmates didn’t know about the event – which had Metallica, Tool, Guns N’ Roses and dozens more on the bill – 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.
“What 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,” the Symphony Of Destruction songwriter tells us. “And I guess that was something that was in really bad form. I don’t know any more about it, but that was not us. We were over in Europe playing.”
Even though Megadeth weren’t involved in the all-day extravaganza at Birmingham’s Villa Park, which took place two weeks before Ozzy Osbourne’s death aged 76 in July 2025, Mustaine adds that he’d “do anything” for Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy’s widow and the event’s organiser.
“Being able to play a show for her and her husband and helping with the grieving process, I’m all about that, because they were there for me,” he explains. “When Sharon got sick the first time [getting diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002], I sent her a bunch of roses and said ‘get well soon’ because of her kindness.
“I 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.”
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 “love to do something like that”, he believes it’s sometimes “a little self-serving to do stuff like that”: “It’d have to be done with grace and style, like the Osbournes.”
He adds that he doesn’t “have a lot of guys that I’ve [kept up] with in the music business”: “They’re just afraid to come up and talk to me. I don’t know, it’s kinda lame. I feel like a self-ostracised loner, sometimes. I love the idea of what we’re doing: touring.”
Megadeth released their 17th and final album, 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.
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, the frontman recalled how his former Metallica bandmate James Hetfield rallied behind him following his June 2019 diagnosis.
“Hearing from him just as I was about to begin treatment, when I was at a pretty low point, meant a lot to me,” Mustaine wrote. “Fuck the drama. Be a human being. And don’t do it for clout or likes on social media. Pick up the damn phone and reach out. Privately. One to one. That’s what James did.”
Back To The Beginning raised an estimated combined total of £6–£7 million for the charities Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Cure Parkinson’s. An abridged concert film, containing snippets of each of the sets performed that day, hits cinemas next week.
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
(LouderSound)
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