Posted by Harry Austin Weldon on Sunday, August 29, 2021
MEGADETH played its seventh show with bassist James LoMenzo in nearly 12 years this past Sunday night (August 29) in Phoenix, Arizona. "The Metal Tour Of The Year" concert at the the Arizona Federal Theatre saw MEGADETH share the stage with co-headliners LAMB OF GOD, along with TRIVIUM and HATEBREED.
MEGADETH's setlist was as follows:
01. Hangar 18
02. Take No Prisoners
03. She-Wolf
04. The Conjuring
05. A Tout Le Monde
06. Trust
07. Conquer Or Die!
08. Dystopia
09. Tornado Of Souls
10. Symphony Of Destruction
11. Peace Sells
Encore:
12. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below (courtesy of YouTube user Billy AZConcertGuy).
Produced by Live Nation, the rescheduled trek will hit a further 22 cities before wrapping in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on Saturday, October 2.
LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group's studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame". He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with returning original MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson.
In addition to MEGADETH, LoMenzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and WHITE LION. For the past eight years, LoMenzo has been performing with iconic rocker John Fogerty.
Mustaine has yet to reveal who played bass on the band's new album after Ellefson's tracks were removed from the LP following his dismissal from the group in late May.
Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH's sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
In July, Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program "The Dave Mustaine Show" that Ellefson's bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.
In early May, on the same day that sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving Ellefson were posted on Twitter, he released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of Ellefson by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) The 56-year-old Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim "David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile" appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.
On May 24, Mustaine — who formed MEGADETH with Ellefson in 1983 — announced the bassist's departure from the band.
Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest departure.
