Dave Mustaine has revealed to Rolling Stone former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman will make a special appearance with the band at their concert at Tokyo’s Budokan later this month. The event will also be live-streamed on February 27th, in which Friedman will not only make an appearance, he’s set to perform a few songs with his former bandmates.
Mustaine shared the following to Rolling Stone:
“When Marty said, ‘Hey, I can play at this gig,’ I thought, ‘This is so magnificent. It’s gonna be so much fun to get Kiko and Marty together, because they’re both geniuses on guitar. So this is like a gigantic birthday and Christmas present for me. We haven’t been to Japan in a long time. I thought that inviting Marty was just a very thoughtful thing to do. Megadeth has not been a band that has had a lot of guest appearances from other players. We are not a jam band. I asked Kiko how he felt about this, and Kiko is completely confident in his guitar playing. This is not like when The Police handed their instruments to U2 to pass the torch. This is doing something really grateful to the Japanese audience. We want it to be a gift. So everybody who bought that ticket before today, you’re welcome. … I’m really looking forward to this moment. It’s gonna be great.”
Friedman expressed his excitement:
“ It has been a long time — 23 years to be exact — since I’ve been on the same stage with Dave Mustaine making music. We’ve both taken drastically different paths since then. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m extremely proud of the part that I played in Megadeth’s history and legacy. I’m also very, very proud of the band’s many great achievements and continued success in my absence. For right now, I just feel immense joy and some serious adrenaline. I am looking forward to playing with Megadeth at this very cool place, the Budokan.”
