DAVE MUSTAINE rules out inviting former MEGADETH members to final tour

In an interview in the latest issue of Guitar World magazine, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine was asked whether there are any plans to invite some of the band’s former members to take part in any of the performances on MEGADETH‘s upcoming farewell tour. “We’ve already done that with (former MEGADETH guitarist) Marty (Friedman),” Dave responded. “And I mean, let’s look at the other people we’ve played with… there’s a lot of people. (Laughs) That would be a huge undertaking. I don’t think I want to do that. I’d rather keep doing what we’re doing and let the fans experience MEGADETH music and be happy about it. It’s not ‘puppet show MEGADETH.'”

Mustaine was previously asked about the possibility of MEGADETH playing the final show of its upcoming farewell tour with a lineup that could include all surviving former members of the group during an appearance on the December 5, 2025 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. Mustaine responded at the time: “Well, I can’t really do that, because of the behavior of one of the bandmembers in the past. I just can’t — I can’t. Because, first off, it would be unfair to the other bandmembers if I didn’t play with them as well. But the thing about what we did with Marty (Friedman) in Japan (in early 2023), that was a no-brainer. That was brilliant. And I love Marty. We had our separation, and he went his way and we went our way. But it was a very, very intense relationship I had with Marty, because that was the first relationship I had with a guitar player. My relationship with (former MEGADETH guitarist) Chris (Poland) was really great, but it wasn’t as good as it was with Marty. My relationship with (former MEGADETH guitarist) Jeff (Young) was good, but it wasn’t as good as it was with Marty. And I probably wouldn’t have a problem playing with any of the members of those two lineups, except the fact that (former MEGADETH drummer) Gar‘s (Samuelson) deceased, and I’m just not gonna do anything that is gonna, in any way, seem unfair to the other bandmembers.”

Asked if he thinks the final MEGADETH show would be announced as the band’s last-ever gig or if MEGADETH will “quietly end” its touring career without an official announcement of one final performance, Mustaine said: “I don’t know. I was joking around with our management and said, ‘You guys should probably book some fake dates at the end of the tour that I don’t know about so I won’t go out there on the last date and just blubber like a fucking 175-pound wuss.”

Last October, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson was asked by AlternativeNation.net for his reaction to the band’s announcement that its upcoming LP and tour would be the band’s last. He said at the time: “Honestly, I don’t think about it that much. I think probably everybody else thinks about it more for me than I do for me.

“It’s been a rocky road, for sure, obviously, and there have been moments sublime and there have been moments that I just scratch my head over, but at the end of the day… Look, Dave said four and a half years ago he doesn’t wanna play music with me anymore, so I just left it there and just moved on. I’m not sitting around waiting for a call. I’ve already offered, if it should come my way, I’d be happy to participate on some level.

“What we saw in Birmingham (at BLACK SABBATH‘s ‘Back To The Beginning’ event), in my opinion, was 100% on point the right way to say goodbye,” Ellefson continued. “You bring back the O.G.s — Geezer (Butler), Tony (Iommi), Bill (Ward) and Ozzy (Osbourne); the four O.G.s — ’cause, obviously, they went through their… Look, they fired Bill (at some point earlier in their career), they fired Ozzy, and at some point they’re back together. The four guys that started it all get to say goodbye together, to each other, to the fans, the fans say goodbye to them. So, to me, that is the model of how it’s done. I mean, that is a hundred percent the right way to do it.”

Circling back to MEGADETH, Ellefson said: “If it really is a farewell, if it really is, and it’s not just an attempt to boost ticket sales, ’cause we’ve seen this movie before — boost ticket sales, go away, then the bigger offers come after everybody’s gone away for a couple years; I mean, we’ve seen how this works — but, look, if Dave needs to shut it down and call it quits because he is just had enough and he’s been through it all, then hey, you know what? As a still friend to him, even we haven’t spoken almost five years — you know what? God bless you, brother. Put it away with grace and go enjoy the rest of your life. So if he really is shutting it down and he’s really gonna put it away, then please do so with dignity and grace and do what you say and mean what you say. ‘Cause I think that farewell thing has been thrown around so much by so many people that it doesn’t have much weight to it. We’ve just seen it over and over again. So, if you’ve really gotta shut it down, shut it down and put it away and go enjoy the rest of your life.”

Last month MEGADETH released the latest single and video for “Let There Be Shred”. The track is a rapid-fire manifesto with jaw-dropping riffs and “a tsunami of sound,” to quote a lyric from the song. Directed by Keith Leman, the video features MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine participating in a mixed martial arts battle alongside live performance footage.

Watch “Let There Be Shred” below.