What Megadeth’s reunion with the Argentine audience was like: a night of heavy rock and euphoric loyalty

The “metal romance” between Megadeth and its Argentine audience has a long history. And every time it comes back David Mustainleaders and frontman from the band, It’s always the same: ardor, clamor, extreme sound and mutual praise.

What happened on Saturday evening at the Movistar Arena in the city of Buenos Aires it was a heavy metal party againwith 14 thousand people dressed in rigorous black and also with a moment of glory within the concert: it happened when the “Colorado” singer appeared, almost towards the end of his short set of fifteen songs, with a Shark’s Tail guitar with the Argentine flag impregnated in the wood.

Without a doubt that section of the recital was the most precise corollary of the affection that the American musician has for the local audience.

But, What is the reason why this band is so loved by the metal audience here in the south of the planet?

There are several factors: in addition to to be popes of trash metal and having indisputable “hymns”, the story of Dave, his mentor, does not go unnoticed among his people. First of all, he was a guitarist for Metallica. And before they recorded their first album, he was kicked out for being an alcoholic and a drug addict.

However, the musician used his anger towards his former colleagues to immediately write off the situation.

To the point that, during the same trip home, after being expelled from the project, He devised one of his own, which quickly became a hit, because talent was what this brilliant musician of few words always had in abundance.but beautiful songs.

Era thus Megadeth was bornafter Mustaine read a pamphlet saying that a million American soldiers had lost their lives in various wars around the world.

Moreover, The metal star also has a surprising religious history: as a child he was a Jehovah’s Witness, practiced black magic as a young man, and eventually converted to Christianity. (according to him, his conversion saved his life, and he, in turn, turned to Alcoholics Anonymous to rehabilitate his addiction to strong drinks).

In particular The first time the band came to Buenos Aires was just 30 years ago, with five concerts in a row at the Obras Sanitarias Stadium..

From then on, they never stopped returning, becoming the foreign rock group that has visited our country the most.

The first heavy night

But before fully addressing the theme of the spectacular concert, the first of the three on this trip (repeat on April 14th and 16th), it is worth mentioning one aspect that was fundamental to this unforgettable reunion of the trash metal icons with their fans in Buenos Aires: In 2019, Mustaine was suffering from throat cancer and feared for his life.

However, his courage in fighting the disease paid off He was saved after long and effective treatment.

Therefore, Megadeth returned to the stage and even reappeared, in September 2022, with a new nameplate: “The sick, the dying… and the dead”, work they present on their current world tour.

Beyond the fact that Saturday was upon us a day of heavy rain in Buenos Airespeople completely took control of the surroundings of the Villa Crespo stadium right from the start: groups of young (and not so young) people gathered at various corners or in some Chinese supermarket on duty, drinking beers, with bottles passing from hand to hand. hand: the typical “precedent” to a heavy metal recital.

All this moved to the corridors of the Movistar Arena, where a large part of the public formed long queues in front of the stadium stalls to buy glasses of “beer” before entering the pitch or the stalls.

Parents with fanatical children, children with fanatical parents and old metal lovers have donated the present, generating a heterogeneous audience with its own characteristics.

Among such a heterogeneous audience, there were also cases of people who went alone, such as the case of Florencia (44), from Almagro. “I worked at Parque Rivadavia with a group of metalhead friends. One day I found a Megadeth cassette in a stall, it was the band’s third album. I liked it so much that I then went back and bought the ones I missed. AND When they first came in 1994, I went to all five shows at Obras, when I was only fourteen.“said the fan, with a few tears of emotion running down her face.

Since the recital was announced for 9pm, the audience said it would start an hour later, but in the end this was not the case. After 17 minutes of the agreed time, the lights went out, Dave Mustaine’s voice was heard greeting and inviting him to his trash metal ritual. AND the machinery was turned on, for what would be a spectacular concert.

The singer, with a tall figure, had an impeccable appearance: he wore a white shirt, black trousers and long semi-combed red hair. To the right of him, the bassist; to his left, the guitarist; and behind, above, the drummer, to mark the point of sound power.

The wallpaper featured the cover of the group’s latest album, with the image of Vic Rattleheadthe skull characteristic of part of Megadeth’s discography, a portrait similar to the one that Iron Maiden uses with the figure of his Eddie.

The musical beginning was with the song that gives its name to the album they are presenting, and then addressed Terror and the fugitive mine (Terror and the Fugitive Mind), 2001.

Until arriving at the first of the most representative songs of his long career, with which Mustaine expressed himself like this: “Buenos Aires, I hope you remember this song”. He referred Hungary 18, which immediately aroused the fervor of the fans, both on the pitch (which was divided into two parts) and on all the trays in the stadium.

There were some changes to the guitar: from the black one it went to the dark wood-colored one and then reappeared with the lightning-shaped one..

They continued with their songbook, retracing the different eras of the group, until it was their turn A whole world (A todo el Mundo), the second best-known song from his historical repertoire, which is part of the album Anasia Youth (Euthanasia of young people).

Then, the frontman took the floor, announcing something significant: “How do you feel? They are fine? “The rest of the world is watching them right now,” he said.

He was referring to the fact that the concert, because it was worn out, It was broadcast live and live for the Veeps platform.

To which the audience’s reaction was instantaneous, singing in unison: “Argentina, Argentina, Argentina!”.

The explosive moment of the night

But the greatest emotion came later, and it was the highlight of the evening.

It happened with Symphony of Destruction (Symphony of Destruction), the band’s main anthem, whose singing of “Megadeth, Megadeth, hold on Megadeth”was popularized in Argentina and then spread to the rest of the world.

Behind him, an actor appears on stage as Vic Rattlehead, with a skull on his head and in a suit.

AND For the encore came the albiceleste guitar, the eternal gratitude of the red-haired singer and an explosion of affection from the audience towards the band who, for their part, remained smiling on stage for a long, almost infinite farewell, as if to suggest that more than a “goodbye” it was a “we’ll see you again soon”.