Earlier this week, Megadeth finally reunited with their long-estranged guitarist Marty Friedman, who joined Dave Mustaine and co during their concert at Tokyo’s prestigious Budokan arena for a three-song cameo.
The performance was historic on a number of fronts. Not only did it mark Megadeth’s first-ever headline show in the country, it was also the first time the heavy metal heroes had shared the stage with Friedman in over two decades – 23 years, to be precise.
Despite the wait, Friedman and Mustaine showcased their evergreen chemistry with three devastating performances of tracks from the guitarist’s 10-year tenure with the band – Countdown to Extinction, Tornado of Souls and Symphony of Destruction – with the former also neatly slotting in next to the band’s current electric guitar hero, Kiko Loureiro.
Given the clear compatibility between the two parties, everybody had the same question when Friedman’s cameo came to a close: “When will we see that happen again?” Naturally, another 23-year wait seemed implausible, but without any word from the band, fans feared another Friedman feature was a long way down the road, if at all.
Fortunately, after voicing his enthusiasm for another guest spot to Consequence, Friedman has now shed even more light on his next potential Megadeth performance – and we might not have long to wait.
Speaking to Guitar World, when asked if there were any imminent plans for another Megadeth cameo, Friedman teased, “We [Megadeth and Friedman] are both playing at Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany this summer, so you never know.”
Though the specific date and time of Friedman’s first-ever Wacken Open Air Festival set is yet to be announced, the guitarist confirmed he’d be performing at the German event in a video message posted to Facebook last month.
Megadeth’s own spot on the festival running order is similarly undetermined, though Mustaine, Loureiro, James LoMenzo and Dirk Verbeuren have already been confirmed as one of Wacken’s standout performers.
Furthermore, the festival itself is scheduled to kick off on August 2 – exactly five months today (March 2) – and if Friedman’s cryptic hints are to be believed, there’s a high possibility that he could join the stage with Megadeth for another cameo.
Nothing has been confirmed yet, and we imagine if Friedman and Megadeth do plan on sharing the stage again, it will be a surprise, spur-of-the-moment thing, so don’t expect to hear anything about it until the weekend itself. That is, of course, if anything does actually happen.
Elsewhere in his interview with Guitar World, Friedman reflected on his Budokan cameo, and said the biggest challenge he faced was performing his guitar solos the same way fans remember from his original stint with the band.
“If there was any challenge at all, I guess it would be playing the solos the way the fans remember them, which is something I wanted to do,” Friedman noted. “My playing has evolved so much since those songs came out, and there are so many nuances I would naturally do differently now.
“I had to resist the urge to play it like I would in 2023 and stick to the original way. For example, in a couple of those songs, I entered the solo on the downbeat, with the first note being the root of the chord. I would definitely avoid both of those things now, but apparently, I was fine with it back then.”
