MARTY FRIEDMAN On His 2023 Reunion With MEGADETH At Budokan: 'It Was A Night Of Miracles'

In a recent interview with U.K. radio veteran Paul Stephenson of VRP Rocks, former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman once again spoke about his exit from the band more than two decades ago. Asked if it was a difficult decision to leave the Dave Mustaine-fronted outfit, Friedman said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The decision was not difficult at all. It was not difficult at all. Actually carrying it out was very difficult. I knew that it was something I had to do, 'cause there was nothing left I could do in the band the way it was at that time. And I knew it was something I had to do, but the timing was not good because we were in the middle of a tour. And I won't go into this, but I was just not the coolest person at that point because it was very selfish of me. In my heart, I was done with it, so I wanted to just be done with it now, but I had a responsibility to the tour, and I tried my absolute best to carry it out. But a lot of things happened that I couldn't carry it out as long as I wanted to, and I regretted that for a long, long time. I made good with Mustaine and the band years after that. But there was a lot of things I'm not proud of at that end time because there was nothing else I could do. I couldn't really do the right thing."

Marty continued: "It's so hard to explain. It took me forever to write it properly in the book [Friedman's 2024 autobiography, 'Dreaming Japanese'], so I think if you read it in the book, you'll get it. But I can't encapsulate it. It wasn't hard to decide. It was very hard to pull off and [there were] a lot of hurt feelings by the way I pulled it off. And it was not savory, but the band definitely recovered from it and did absolutely fantastic things in my absence. And I did the same, and did my own thing and did my own successful things very well. And so I think we both wound up winning. But at the time, I was not proud of my actions."

Marty also talked about his onstage reunion with MEGADETH during the Mustaine-fronted outfit's first-ever gig at Tokyo, Japan's famed Budokan more than three and a half years ago. Friedman came up on stage for three songs toward the end of the main set on February 27, 2023: "Countdown To Extinction", "Tornado Of Souls" and "Symphony Of Destruction". Marty said: "It was wonderful. I think it was something that meant a lot to myself and Dave Mustaine because we both really, really wanted to do Budokan. We had sold it out on the 'Countdown To Extinction' tour, but things happened that prevented that [show from taking place]. And in my heart and in my gut, it created a lot of not good things and it took years for me to get over that, being in Japan, and I did. And Dave and I have always remained friends, and when he asked, he said, 'Dude, we're playing Budokan. You wanna join me?' First, I was just very, very pleased that MEGADETH was finally playing Budokan after we had it. It took a long time, and in my absence, they did a lot of great things so that they deserved to play Budokan. And so I was so happy about that, and equally as happy that Dave asked me to be there to play with them for that. And it was a night of miracles. People were crying in the audience, smiling ear to ear. It was not your typical concert. And I think a lot of bridges were mended. It's not like we had big broken bridges or anything like that, but a lot of really good will happened on that day. And it's just a great thing."

Friedman added: "I had played Budokan eight times before then, before playing with MEGADETH, with various different things here in Japan, and there's always two thoughts that go in my head. 'I'm enjoying this.' The first thought is actually, 'I really wish that I'd been playing with my teenage band DEUCE,' because for some reason, that's always in my heart. I don't know why. Any time I'm playing a really cool gig, I think of those guys, 'cause that was the original dream. But also, I think — MEGADETH, I really, really need to do this with MEGADETH, and we did it, and so it was a very wonderful thing for myself, and I think for the fans as well."

Marty also rejoined MEGADETH on stage in early August 2023 at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany.

At the 2023 Wacken Open Air, Marty performed four songs with MEGADETH: "Trust", "Tornado Of Souls", "Symphony Of Destruction" and "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due".

Friedman and his solo band performed as the support act for MEGADETH on September 22, 2025 at Maçka Küçükçiftlik Park in Istanbul, Turkey. Marty did not take the stage with his former band at the show, but he took to his social media right after the gig and wrote: "My band and I had an incredible time playing in Istanbul! … After our show Naoki [Morioka, a member of Marty's Japanese touring band] and I watched as [current MEGADETH guitarist] Teemu [Mäntysaari] absolutely NAILED my solos with ease and MEGADETH tore up the place!"

Friedman left MEGADETH in 2000 due to creative differences and pursued a solo career, having released his most recent album, "Drama", in 2024.

Friedman first visited Japan in the late 1980s with CACOPHONY, and came to Japan regularly with MEGADETH, all the while studying the Japanese language. After he quit the Mustaine-fronted outfit, he moved to Tokyo.

Written with veteran music journalist Jon Wiederhorn ("Louder Than Hell", "Raising Hell"),"Dreaming Japanese" debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's Heavy Metal Books chart and has received praise from major outlets including Rolling Stone, Guitar World, Decibel and Publishers Marketplace.