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Dave Mustaine Says Megadeth Will Tour Australia “Soon”

Hold onto your hats Megadeth fans, it looks like Dave Mustaine, Dave Ellefson and their revolving door of bandmates have their sights set on Australia (again), and have promised a tour is not too far away, giving punters hope that perhaps a make-up Soundwave 2016 appearance is on the cards.

The confirmation of the band’s Aussie tour plans comes from Dave Mustaine himself, who responded on Twitter with a simple “yes. soon…”, ellipsis included, to a fan asking about whether Megadeth would tour Down Under in the near future.

Dave Mustaine and co haven’t visited Australia since back in 2010. They were supposed to break their Down Under dry spell with a spot on the Soundwave 2014 bill, but that didn’t eventuate due to Mustaine’s controversial last-minute cancellation.

At the time, Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah said the band’s cancellation stemmed from a dispute with fellow Soundwave act Jason Newsted, claiming that the thrash metal legends requested Newsted be removed from a triple Sidewaves bill.

“I don’t like being asked to lie. Nor do I like being extorted. But at the same time I don’t want to lose an act off the festival. #dilemma,” Maddah tweeted at the time.

Megadeth denied any sort of feud, and things got messy.

Should it be that now Mustain and Maddah have buried the hatchet, it looks like Megadeth’s tour calendar is nice and free come late January 2016, which is a great time of year to make amends with Aussie fans, or so I hear.

In the time since Megadeth’s last Australian tour, the band have released a divisive album, Super Collider, gone through a double-whammy departure of former drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick, and have finished recording a whole new record, with a little help from Lamb Of God sticksman Chris Adler.

In fact, Megadeth and Lamb Of God will be heading out on a co-headlining of the U.K. and Ireland this November, during which Chris Adler will be pulling double drumming duty.

Should he want to do the same in Australia, LOG are also free late January and although Soundwave don’t usually book artists for back to back years, Maddah has previously said he is willing to make an exception for them.

Which makes sense, given that he’s also indicated that the 2016 festival lineup is “all about better bands and longer sets.”

We’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled for this one. After it was revealed that the first official act on the 2016 Soundwave lineup earlier are metal titans Bullet For My Valentine, the next official lineup announcement for SW16 is due “in the first week of September”.

Devil horns crossed Aussie ‘Deth fans will have some luck in 2016.

UPDATE 17/08/15, 4.27pm: Soundwave chief AJ Maddah has weighed in on the news, saying that it’s more likely Megadeth will head to Australian for a headline tour, rather than feature on the Soundwave lineup.

UPDATE 20/08/15: Dave has made good on his promise and Megadeth have announced a 2015 Australian tour.

Watch: Megadeth quebec 2015

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