DAVE MUSTAINE Wants MEGADETH's Last Show To Be In Space

MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine has told Metal Hammer magazine that he wants the final concert of his band's farewell tour to take place in space. "I hope we'll be playing up in space," he said. "I think that will be a really fitting climax. And I'm not talking about on the side of a vomit comet. A gig on the moon, a full moon landing, that would be cool."

Referencing the fact that pop superstar Katy Perry, "Star Trek" actor William Shatner and British billionaire Richard Branson have all made trips into space in recent years, Dave added: "I saw they sent up a bunch of celebrities into space and I thought 'Well, if them, why not me?', you know? I'm just watching how that all progresses. I know Elon Musk and Richard Branson were working on interstellar travel. I think people are going to be travelling to space a lot sooner than you think."

Asked by Metal Hammer if he was joking about the idea of actually playing a gig in outer space, Dave said: "People already travel over 40,000 feet altitude, and when you get to that kind of atmosphere you're basically already in space. So I do think it's going to happen. The question is, are people going to be able to inhabit the moon?"

This past April, Perry and five other women safely returned to Earth after reaching space aboard Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket. The 11-minute flight took the singer, along with Bezos's now-wife Lauren Sánchez and CBS presenter Gayle King, more than 100km (62 miles) above Earth, crossing the internationally recognized boundary of space and giving them a few moments of weightlessness. Katy even sang "What A Wonderful World" on the trip after seeing Earth from above.

Perry isn't the first performer with space ambitions. In fact, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Lance Bass all hoped to be first at one time or another in the last decade.

Blue Origin, which does not publicly say how much such a trip costs, aims in future to bring space tourists into orbit, competing directly with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson, also offers similar sub-orbital trips to those wanting to travel to space and being willing to spend extraordinary sums of money to do so.

In the summer of 2021, Blue Origin auctioned off a seat on its first crewed flight for $28 million, according to The New York Times.

In October 2021, Shatner flew on the New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle for free as a "guest" of Blue Origin, the company told The New York Times. Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic has offered rides between $200,000 and $450,000, according to the Associated Press.

This past August, MEGADETH announced its plans to retire with a farewell album and tour.

"There's so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional," Mustaine explained in a social media post. "Most of them don't get to go out on their own terms on top, and that's where I’m at in my life right now."

Mustaine has since clarified that MEGADETH's farewell run of shows could last "for another three to five years".

MEGADETH was founded in 1983 after Mustaine was kicked out of METALLICA, a band he was a part of for less than a year.

MEGADETH released its debut album, "Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!" , in 1985.