Last night (January 20th), thrash pioneers Megadeth made their triumphant return to the stage to play their first show in 15 months and their first since main man Dave Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer. The momentous concert went down at Helsinki, Finland’s Hartwell Arena and saw Mustaine and Co. opening for Five Finger Death Punch with an array of classics including “Peace Sells,” “Symphony of Destruction” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” See the full setlist and fan-shot videos below.
Mustaine publicly announced his cancer diagnosis in June 2019 via social media. He has since undergone treatment and, according to an interview with Rolling Stone, he is now undergoing rehabilitation and was given the bill of health of perform with the band, although he is not officially in remission. “I’m not letting the cancer get me down,” he said. “I have to thank the fans and obviously my family and God but there was no way I was going to let this take me down. When [Black Sabbath guitarist] Tony Iommi got cancer, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s gonna die.’ And I actually cried. I wept, because they had said it was stage 4 cancer. And then, when I got it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God. I’m gonna die.’ Because I didn’t know how bad it was. I thought of the fans and how sad everybody was gonna be. And I thought, ‘I have to beat this.’ No matter what, there’s no way I’m gonna act like I can’t do this. I can do anything if I set my mind to it.”
Backing up that sentiment, Mustaine and his bandmates have been making good progress on Megadeth’s 16th album, despite the singer-guitarist’s health issues. The LP is expected later this year.
Megadeth setlist, Hartwell Arena, Finland, January 20th:
01. Hangar 18
02. Wake Up Dead
03. Sweating Bullets
04. Dawn Patrol
05. Trust
06. A Tout Le Monde
07. She-Wolf
08. Dystopia
09. Symphony Of Destruction
10. Peace Sells
Encore:
11. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
