DAVE MUSTAINE Explains Why He Lashed Out At JUDAS PRIEST's Road Crew: 'I Was So Mad'

MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine says that he "was so mad" when JUDAS PRIEST's road crew began soundchecking while his band was performing at a Spanish festival last month.

Barcelona Rock Fest is staged at the Parc de Can Zam in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, just 20 minutes from the center of Barcelona. The festival revolves around two identical main stages set up side by side (Stage Rock on the left and Stage Fest on the right). The format is meant to eliminate the classic festival dilemma of having to choose between two bands that are playing at the same time, enabling artists to play almost continuously one after the other throughout the day. While one band is playing on one stage, the crew prepares the other stage for the next act.

After MEGADETH played the sixth song of its set on July 2, "Trust", a visibly annoyed Mustaine stopped the show in protest of the crew on the other main stage which was getting ready for PRIEST's performance later in the night.

"We'll wait till he's done checking his guitar over there," Dave said into the microphone.

After a long pause during which he apparently flipped the bird at the crew member in question, Mustaine continued: "The last night of the tour — we went all the way to the last fucking night, and then some pussy over on the stage next to us has to start playing while we're playing. How fucking pathetic, amateur piece of shit you are."

After another brief pause, Dave said: "Can we proceed now?" and then muttered under his breath, "Fucking cunt."

"This is called 'Symphony Of Destruction'," he added before he and his bandmates launched into the song.

Mustaine addressed his onstage rant during an hourlong interview he gave to TalkShopLive earlier this month to promote MEGADETH's upcoming album, "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Recently I had an outburst onstage, and it was one of the only ones I've had in years. And it wasn't because somebody did something and I just reacted. It was the third time something had happened to us, and by the third time it happened, I just said 'enough.'

"We were in Belgium, [at the] Graspop [Metal Meeting festival]. And WHITESNAKE's road crew thought it was okay to soundcheck during our set," Dave explained. "Talk about amateurs. Then DEEP PURPLE did the same thing a couple of days later at Hellfest [in France]. More amateurs. I know the band wouldn't have done that. And then the last time it happened, on the very last show of the tour, the crew for JUDAS PRIEST did it. And I lost it. I almost went over there and said something to the guy's face because I was just burning hot; I was so mad."

Mustaine clarified that he didn't hold the WHITESNAKE, DEEP PURPLE and JUDAS PRIEST bandmembers personally responsible for the way their crews behaved at the above-mentioned festivals.

"There are two ways to look at this here," he said. "Total unprofessionalism on the part of the crews and on the part of the stage managers, the production managers at those festivals.

"Do I think the promoter did it? No, I don't think the promoter did it. Do I think the bandmembers did it? No, I don't think so. In fact, we just finished a tribute song we were working on for JUDAS PRIEST, and if I thought the band did it, I would have stopped doing the song.

"A lot of these [crew] guys, they go out on the road and they don't get paid very well," Mustaine noted. "So they drink, they smoke, they do whatever — some do, some don't. But you find the people that don't do that, those are the ones that are the professionals; they know not to do that.

"Do I hate these people? No. Was it uncool? Yeah. Do I forgive 'em? Totally. But it still was one of those things."

It's not clear whether the members of JUDAS PRIEST were even aware of the circumstances that led to Mustaine's rant. The Rob Halford-fronted outfit played shortly after the end of MEGADETH's set, with guitarist Glenn Tipton — who has been sitting out PRIEST's touring activities after going public with his Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 2018 — joining his bandmates for the encore.