By now you know that Megadeth were very close to canceling their performance at Yankee Stadium thanks to Dave Mustaine’s neck injury. But Mustaine carried on and Megadeth performed as scheduled. However, it turns out that The Big 4 had a backup plan involving none other than Exodus.
In a recent interview with Guitar World, Slayer’s Kerry King revealed that Exodus was actually added to the bill when it looked like Megadeth couldn’t make it to the Yankee Stadium show. You can watch video King’s entire interview online, but when asked about what went through his head when Megadeth almost pulled out (starting around the 1:25 mark), King said the following:
“I just felt bad for Exodus, ’cause they were on the bill. They were working on flights. And that got yanked. I mean, Gary [Holt, Exodus guitarist] is gonna be here anyway, but the band EXODUS, I felt bad for them.”
As King points out, Exodus guitarist Gary Holt was already at Yankee Stadium since he’s been filling in for Jeff Hanneman as of late. Even though Holt’s performance with Slayer (and the Big 4 jam) will still be great exposure for Exodus, playing Yankee Stadium would without a doubt have been amazing for the band. Not only would it have been possibly the biggest show Exodus have ever played in the States (or at least in a long time), but it would’ve also secured them a spot in the “Big 5” (a spot they’ve been fighting with Testament over).
It’s unfortunate that Exodus couldn’t play at all (even a brief set before Anthrax would’ve been nice, but also understandably hard to pull off given time restraints). However, it was the Big 4 fans originally wanted to see at Yankee Stadium, and in the end that’s what fans got. Maybe this will push them to do a Big 5 show in the near future (or Big 6 if you want to include Testament).
