On its 16th visit to Brazil, Megadeth makes rice and beans well done

Megadeth performed their 16th performance in Tupiniquins on the night of last Thursday, the 18th, as part of the South American tour promoting the album The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!released in 2022. Despite the large schedule in the south of the continent, with 12 presentations between the 6th and 30th of this month, only one took place in Brazil, located in Unimed Space, in Sao Paulo. Argentina, in comparison, had three shows, two sold out — and a free pocket show in front of the hotel where the band was staying.

The reception in Brazil was less heated, without even filling the São Paulo space, but still mobilizing a crowd committed to singing, from beginning to end, the hits of the thrash metal band. Even promoting the most recent album of new songs, the setlist of 15 songs plus encores featured seven of them being from the band’s two most notorious albums, against just their own “The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!” from the latest release, which opened the presentation.

With a preference for playing the most well-known songs, they played three hits by Rust in Peace (1990), which are “Holy Wars”, “Hangar 18” It is “Tornado of Souls”, and four from the album Countdown to Extinction (1992), with “Skin o’ My Teeth”, “Sweating Bullets”, “Symphony of Destruction” and the album’s title track making up the list. The performances were almost uninterrupted, without breaks for conversations with the public, in addition to starting the performance promptly at 9:30 pm, demonstrating impressive vigor for a band completing four decades in activity.

Dave Mustainein particular, wasted his breath at the age of 62, constantly flapping his hair during the distorted riffs and parading from one side of the stage to the other, making a point of paying attention to every track that boasted about him during the breaks, shouting in chorus “hello hello hello, Mustaine, Mustaine”. The lack of Brazilian Kiko Loureiroaway from the group for an indefinite period of time, went completely unnoticed with the meticulousness of Teemu Mäntysaarireplacement of the formerAngra. The Finnish player also had his name shouted by the audience, showing that the change was well accepted by local fans.

The chimerical presentation of the members, led by the vocalist, occurred only in the last song, thanking them for their affection with a “thank you”, in Portuguese. The negative point occurred after the end of the show, with the band’s technical team showing disinterest in the fans who gathered at the barricade after the musicians left; the members threw on wristbands, gloves and drumsticks, but left behind printed setlists and pedestals full of picks. The roadies preferred to collect them instead of releasing them to the public — and it took 26 minutes to remove the equipment that supports the microphones, leaving fans hopeful during the period and, after such action, completely outraged for waiting.

In the end, Megadeth played a conservative show in terms of the band’s legacy, pleasing the audience with the best-known hits and, mainly, illustrating professionalism in the middle of a mid-week show with expensive tickets.