Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine told an audience in London, England, that he’d sourced power from his fans to help in his recent cancer battle.

He spent much of last year fighting the disease and was given the all-clear in October. He recently returned to action in a European tour where Megadeth are special guests of Five Finger Death Punch – his first full concert since October 2018.

“I’m doing good,” Mustaine said during a break in the show (video below). “I’m really glad to be here, and I’ll tell you a little story before we go on. About a year ago, we were working on our new album back in Franklin, Tennessee, and I started to feel some pain … So I went to the doctor and he said, ‘Dave, you have cancer.’ And I went, ‘Fuck, I have cancer!’ And I was so shocked.”

He added: “At first I thought, ‘Am I afraid?’ And then I said, ‘No, I’m fucking pissed.’ And we stopped the record. We stopped everything. I went into treatment for cancer. It was 51 radiation treatments and nine chemo treatments.” He recalled thinking, “I can’t face not playing again,” and turning to the power of prayer.

“But I thought about you guys every day,” he told the audience. “And I thought about my family. And I got this power from you guys. … And on October 16, I went to go see the doctor, and he said, ‘You’re 100 percent free of cancer.”

Megadeth remain on the road until Feb. 20. Afterwards it's expected they'll return to the studio to complete their next album. Mustaine had reported that "nine crushing songs" had been written, including one inspired by Kiss classic "Beth".

Dave Mustaine’s Cancer Story

 

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