Dave Mustaine's career has been marked by more than its fair share of ignominy, injury and self-abuse, from his infamously unceremonious ouster from Metallica back in 1983 to numerous stints in rehab. Just last fall he underwent neck surgery, one of countless setbacks over the years that nearly put an end to his tenure leading Megadeth, one of the most revered names in heavy metal. Yet watching Mustaine and the band on stage at the Aragon Friday night, headlining the latest installment of what he's deemed the "Gigantour," one sensed that after nearly 30 years fronting Megadeth, Mustaine's finally having the last laugh.
Not literally, of course. Megadeth is no laughing matter, and Mustaine's humor runs to the cynical and wry. For that matter, some technical mishaps at the start of the set added an air of extra tension to the performance, and when Mustaine finally did crack a joke, it was about wanting to start the show over. But whatever problems persisted were likely lost on the crowd, itself in thrall to such intricate thrash epics as "Hangar 18," "Head Crusher" and the closer "Holy Wars … The Punishment Due," which showed off the commanding speed and precision of the group's current incarnation with such confidence any problems were practically invisible.
As the set progressed, Mustaine did eventually relax a little, but when your music is as packed with righteous anger and rage as his is, even dialed down intensity still packs a wallop. Special note must be made of Mustaine's group, then, which attacked the music with such joyful virtuosity they tempered their leader's notoriously stern stage demeanor. Indeed, even when Mustaine flashes a fleeting smile, you get the impression the guy's already girding himself for the next disaster.
Megadeth's songs were of such speed and rigor that if they couldn't be done right, they likely couldn't be done at all. In other words, a far contrast to the defiantly no-frills Motorhead, who preceded Megadeth on a bill that also includedItaly'sLacuna Coil andDenmark'sVolbeat. Ur-metal to the extreme, Motorhead hearkened back to the earliest days of the genre's evolution, when the first bands crawled out of the distortion-thick primordial ooze and roared "blaaaargh!" Iconic frontman Lemmy Kilmister stood statue-like for much of the set as he barked through "Going to Brazil" and the immortal "Ace of Spades," and rightly so: he's as much of a living God as the form has to offer, and a vengeful God, at that. As the trio's "Overkill" thundered to a close, Kilmister raised his bass to his shoulder like a rifle and took aim at the audience like easy targets.
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