During their show Tuesday night, June 12, at the The Home Monitoring Aréna in Plzeň, Czech Republic, Megadeth performed their 1986 song, "The Conjuring," for the first time in 17 years. You can watch fan-filmed footage of the performance above.
"The Conjuring"—one of the more memorable tracks from the band's 1986's album, Peace Sells...but Who's Buying—is largely about black magic, and features instructions for hexes, according to its writer, Dave Mustaine. Consequently, Mustaine has been reluctant to perform the song live since Megadeth's 2004 reformation, largely due to his Christian beliefs.
"Performance wise, 'The Conjuring' is one of the heaviest songs on the record, but unfortunately it's got black magic in it and I promised that I wouldn't play it any more, because there's a lot of instructions for hexes in that song," Mustaine told Total Guitar in a 2011 interview. "Although it seems kinda corny, anybody who's a Wiccan or a warlock or anything like that will know that all of that stuff is instrumental."
"When I got into black magic I put a couple of spells on people when I was a teenager and it haunted me forever, and I've had so much torment," he continued. "People say, 'Goddamn, Dave never gets a break, he's had such a hard life,' and I just think, 'No, Dave didn't—he got into black magic and it ruined his life.' It wasn't that I was a bad guy or that I had a big mouth, it was that I got into witchcraft and black magic and it ruined my life. Fortunately for me, with all the work and the love of my friends, and not giving up with my guitar playing, I got over it. So I look back now and I think, 'Hmm, I don't wanna play 'The Conjuring."
Considering the fact that the band also played "The Conjuring" during their show in Katowice, Poland last night, it seems safe to say that Mustaine has made peace with the song. You can watch fan-filmed footage of them performing the song in Katowice below.
