MEGADETH's MUSTAINE: 'If Last Night Was Any Indication, Christmas Came Early For This Kid!'

MEGADETH kicked off the "Countdown To Extinction" 20th-anniversary tour earlier tonight (Sunday, September 2) at Royal Center in Bogotá, Colombia.

Commented MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine: "Last night when we got to the venue, there was complete pandemonium. All of our crew was scrambling; the local production were moving like they were all on Quaaludes; and there was still the underlying fact that we had never played a large portion of the evening's songs live…ever! But when we left, our driver (who seemed to not know where he was going — or doing, for that matter),drove us past all of the fans in a van with clear windows, and excluding the safety hazard for our Droogies [MEGADETH fans] that ran out into the street to greet us, we noticed that the line from the front door went around the entire block and overlapped itself at the from door.

"There was definitely going to be volcanic activity tonight!

"We raced back to the hotel to make any last minute preparations, and headed back to the venue and our support band was playing — Patricio Stiglich — and this kid absolutely smoked! He reminded me of Eric Johnson, but with grit! I listened to him play as I went over the lyrics for the new songs with our new personal assistant Aly (from Austin…yea!),and I got dressed as usual. I had no idea what we were in store for.

"When we took the stage, the place erupted. Of course, you know I was going to say that, but it really did, and it got better and better as we went along.

"Now, please understand something: from the first time we went down to my beloved Argentina, no one, and I mean no one around the globe could touch them. Then, of course, the great people of Chile (our friend Tom Araya is Chilean) was not going to accept the Argies being number one and they have gone back and forth over the years, but it was the fans of Buenos Aires that coined 'Aguante Megadeth,' which can be heard at MEGADETH shows around the world, and is a subtle reminder wherever we play of their love for us.

"Last night however, the baton was passed.

"I'm not saying that it is going to stay that way, because I know the competitive nature of the silvery people from Buenos Aires, but Bogota completely kicked the entire globe's butt last night… without a doubt… no argument! And the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life happened during the performance of our double platinum album 'Countdown To Extinction'. The audience had organized and worked out amongst themselves that during the song 'Countdown To Extinction' they would all hold up a paper sign of the old man from the record cover. It was by far the most amazing thing I have ever seen in all my years.

"I don't know what the rest of this tour down south has in store for us, but if last night was any indication, Christmas came early for this kid in 2012!"

The setlist was as follows:

01. Trust
02. Hangar 18
03. She-Wolf
04. A Tout Le Monde
05. Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
06. Public Enemy No. 1
07. Skin o' My Teeth
08. Symphony of Destruction
09. Architecture of Aggression
10. Foreclosure of a Dream
11. Sweating Bullets
12. This Was My Life
13. Countdown to Extinction
14. High Speed Dirt
15. Psychotron
16. Captive Honour
17. Ashes in Your Mouth

Encore:

18. Peace Sells
19. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

Video footage of the "Countdown To Extinction" (the song) performance from tonight's concert can be seen below.

MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine previously stated about the band's plans for the "Countdown To Extinction" anniversary celebration, "MEGADETH will be going down to South America, we're going celebrate 'Countdown To Extinction''s 20th anniversary and 'Peace Sells… But Who's Buying''s 25th anniversary, so depending on where we're at we might end up doing more than one show. We're definitely going to do 'Countdown To Extinction' in its entirety and if we get a second night, we'll probably play most of 'Peace Sells'. There's a couple of songs on there I don't really like playing anymore, but other than that, it's a fun record to play."

MEGADETH's fifth LP, "Countdown To Extinction" was released on July 14, 1992 through Capitol Records. The band's best-selling full-length CD to date, it was certified double-platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for U.S. shipments in excess of two million copies. The album also produced the band's most successful hit singles, "Symphony Of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets", "Skin O' My Teeth" and "Foreclosure Of A Dream".