Watch: MEGADETH Performs 'Let There Be Shred' Live For First Time

MEGADETH played the song "Let There Be Shred" live for the first time last night (Wednesday, February 18) during the band's concert at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada as part of a Canadian tour with ANTHRAX and EXODUS. Fan-filmed video of the performance can be seen below.

"Let There Be Shred" is taken from MEGADETH's final, self-titled studio album which came out in January. The track sees MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine reflect on how, "On the day I was born, a guitar in my hands / The earth started rumbling a thunderous command…"

Dave elaborated in a statement about "Let There Be Shred": "When MEGADETH started, we said we would be fast and furious… we said so on the flyers we handed out. This song is fast and furious… It has a very hooky chorus that draws you in and you can't help but play air guitar and headbang to this one."

In an interview with Guitar World magazine, Mustaine said about "Let There Be Shred": "Teemu [Mäntysaari, MEGADETH guitarist] is such an exceptional talent that he really lit a fire in me for my playing. We were joking around and constantly talking about how we have to make this record absolutely shred and that we needed to put a lot of solos in it. I think we accomplished that.

"A pretty unique thing about 'Let There Be Shred' — in terms of the guitar duels Teemu and I were doing — is that he would do all the shred stuff, and I'd do all the hippie stuff. I thought that was really fun, based on what the lyrics were about, because it was supposed to be a guitar challenge."

"Megadeth" was released via Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint on Frontiers Label Group's new BLKIIBLK label. The LP debuted at the top of the U.S. album chart after earning 73,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending January 29, according to Luminate. The bulk of that sum was driven by pure album sales (purchases of physical and digital copies of the album),totaling 69,000.

MEGADETH also claimed the top spot in Australia (highest previous position No. 2) and Austria (highest previous position No. 8). Other top five spots included No. 2 in Finland (and No. 1 physical),Sweden (plus No. 1 physical; highest previous position No. 9),and Belgium (highest previous position: No. 6); No. 3 in both the U.K. and Germany (highest previous position No. 6); No. 4 in the Netherlands (highest previous position No. 7); and No. 5 in both Italy (highest previous position No. 15) and New Zealand (highest chart position ever).

MEGADETH's previous album, 2022's "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown To Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

For its final album, MEGADETH once again worked with Chris Rakestraw, a producer, mixer and engineer who previously worked on MEGADETH's last two LPs, the aforementioned "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" and "Dystopia".