Megadeth found themselves in a bit of drama down under after Australian festival Soundwave’s organizers claimed the band requested that former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted’s band not play a show with them. Dave Mustaine was quick to deny that claim. However, in a weird turn of events, Megadeth has announced they are canceling all of their Australian dates, which was supposed to include Volbeat and Whitechapel.
Mustaine announced the news via the following post on Megadeth’s Facebook page:
“Due to circumstances beyond its control, unfortunately Megadeth has to cancel their Australian dates. Megadeth’s decision is unrelated to the fact that Jason Newsted is performing at Soundwave. Jason and I spoke recently and continue to be friends.”
Ironically the announcement was made shortly after Newsted announced they would be opening for Testament on shows that also coincided with the Soundwave festival. While Mustaine was quick to point out that the sudden cancellation had nothing to do with his friend Newsted, we can only speculate whether the recent events played some role in the “circumstances beyond its control” that led to these cancelled shows.
UPDATE: Shortly after the post was made, Mustaine took to his personal account to claim the cancellation came from Soundwave festival promoter AJ Maddah having yet to apologize for the recent events. Here’s that particular statement:
“All I asked for was an apology for blaming me for something I didn’t do. I am still willing to play, but the promoter would rather not apologize and prefers to say I asked him to lie, which I didn’t. Am I the only one that sees how easy it is to fix this? The AJ Maddah that I know is a wise and caring man, and I don’t know what has happened to my old friend. My bags are packed Aussie fans.”
Maddah quickly took to his Twitter account to offer his side of the matter and give an apology, saying the following in multiple tweets:
“Dave, we have been friends for a long time and I love you. Your family is like my own. But the only people being punished here are the fans. We took instructions from your representatives and we acted on those instructions as we would with any other artist. I realise that you fired your agent and manager and appointed new ones during the process. And that there may have been misunderstandings or miscommunications but none of those were at our end. Despite of this, I sent you a statement regarding possible misunderstandings/miscommunications, apologising to fans, etc,… even though my people did everything by the book and correct protocol was undertaken getting approvals for supports. There are strings of emails supporting this, including ones forwarded with instructions to remove certain artists. I am not sure where and how you believe you are owed an apology. And if you are, it should be from your own reps!
All you are doing by cancelling is punishing the fans who have had no part in any of this. Your reps approved your supports and sent clear instructions. They even approved artwork and press release. If you have a quarrel, or you were not consulted then your issue is with your reps and not Australian reps or your old friend! So here it is Dave. I apologize for whatever slight you think I have done you. So, does this mean tour is back on?”
Whether Mustaine has accepted the apology and if the shows are back on is still unknown. It’s a safe bet, though, that you should likely keep an eye out on their social media accounts for new updates.
