Megadeth and Marty Friedman Announce Reunion Gig

2023-02-13

Megadeth photo by Travis Shinn

Megadeth – Story by Charles Ken, photo by Travis Shinn

Megadeth and Marty Friedman will reunite on Feb. 27 at the Nippon Budokan venue in Tokyo

For a few weeks, rumors have been spinning that Megadeth and Marty Friedman would reunite for the first time in 23 years on Feb. 27 at the Nippon Budokan venue in Tokyo. Adding to those rumors was that Megadeth recently announced they would livestream the Nippon Budokan show online.

Now, Megadeth have released an official statement confirming they’ll reunite with Friedman at the Feb. 27 concert. Tickets for the global livestream show are here.

Megadeth’s statement says, “For the first time in more than 23 years, Megadeth alumni Marty Friedman will join Megadeth on stage as the special guest for our one-off global livestream from the legendary Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan on February 27!”

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine adds, “Marty and I have remained friends over 23 years, since we last played together. However, I hear his music every night, and he still is among the top guitar players I’ve ever heard. This is an amazing treat for the fans, as well as myself. To be honest, I may drift off while listening to Kiko and Marty play together!”

Friedman became a member of Megadeth in 1990 and performed with the band until 2000, appearing on every album between “Rust In Peace” and “Risk.” Following his time with Megadeth, Friedman has remained active, both in music and as an actor in Japan.

In an interview with Guitar World in 2022, Mustaine discussed what led to Friedman’s dismissal. He said, “I’ve always believed we should give the guitar player an opportunity to do a solo that he feels is right for the song,” said Mustaine. “If someone plays something that doesn’t work for the part, then I may make some suggestions. If it’s still not happening, I might say, ‘Okay, this is what I want you to play here.’ If a lead totally doesn’t work then I’m going to do the part myself. That’s what happened [on] ‘Breadline’. And Marty Friedman quit over the solo in ‘Breadline.'”

He added, “I said [to management], ‘Well, you have three choices. Either you mute the solo completely, have Marty come back and redo it, or I do it.’ And then I said, ‘If I do it, you’d better tell him.’ Well, I redid it and nobody told Marty. So we’re in there listening to the finished album and the solo comes on. It’s my solo, not Marty’s… I looked at him as tears ran down his face and I knew right away that nobody had told him. I knew that was probably going to be the end of Marty Friedman.”

Charles Ken
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