KUALA LUMPUR: Heavy metal pioneers Megadeth enjoyed a triumphant debut performance in Malaysia, some 16 years after an earlier planned show here was cancelled.
Calling it “a huge victory for the people of Malaysia and all who love heavy metal,” Megadeth’s mainstay Dave Mustaine promised an exciting show and proceeded to deliver it in spades to a pulsating crowd at Stadium Negara last night.
The singer and guitarist, along with long-time bassist David Ellefson and new members Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro and Belgian drummer Dirk Verbeuren, tore through a string of band classics.
The set list was a tasteful balance of established staples like Trust, Sweating Bullets and Symphony of Destruction, and no less than six songs from last year’s Dystopia album. That album was one of the highest-charting records of the group’s three-decade career.
It included the title track which snagged Megadeth its first Grammy award for best metal performance.
Other attention-grabbing tunes from the album were Poisonous Shadows, Post-American World and The Threat Is Real.
With signature twin guitars, off-kilter riffing and precision rhythms, the performance was topped off by Mustaine’s strangely engaging throttled vocals spouting familiar themes of war and alienation.
The night reached a crescendo as Megadeth swung into overdrive with the bone-crushing encores Holy Wars and Peace Sells, a virtuoso pairing that brought the show full circle.
Earlier, local band Massacre Conspiracy kicked things off with a belligerent, if occasionally atonal, set of three songs.
The concert proceeded smoothly despite a threatened protest by Selangor PAS Youth.
Apparently, Mustaine issued a Twitter message yesterday in response to the planned protest: “Thank you. If there is a song that offends Malaysians or their faith, please tell me. I wish to offend no one here. We cut songs for China.”
He was reacting to a Malaysian Twitter user who reported that PAS Youth would not hold the protest.
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