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MEGADETH was forced to leave the stage three songs into its headlining set last night (Tuesday, March 16) at Rams Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland after the venue P.A. (the "Public Address" system that amplifies sound so more people can hear it) allegedly "took a shit" and prevented the band from continuing its performance.
What follows below is a BLABBERMOUTH.NET transcript of the TheLiveLine "audioblog" MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine left late last night decribing the circumstances that led the band to cut its set short.
"I'm calling right now from Baltimore. It's approximately 10 minutes to midnight, and unfortunately, our show turned into an absolute disaster tonight," Mustaine can be heard saying.
"We had problems with the P.A. from the beginning of the night.
"I went out on stage and I had said that the P.A. was a bit inferior to what we were used to using [see video below ? Ed.], and after the P.A. completely took a shit, we went into the dressing room, waited another half hour to 45 minutes, used the house P.A. and went back out and started playing again. And some delirious asshole decided that it was a good idea to throw their beverage over the [mixing] console, thus ending the concert.
"So, to the good people of Baltimore, I'm sorry for us having to end your night early tonight, but I can tell you honestly right now that we will be back. It's not like we have better things to do tonight than perform for you. We love you, and we're very sorry about this situation. And hopefully next time we'll be able to play in like a gas station with a couple of generators and a P.A. that'll work. ['Cause] that piece of shit we played in tonight didnt."
You can hear Mustaine's entire one-minute message using the audio player below.
MEGADETH's setlist was as follows:
01. Set The World On Fire
02. Wake Up Dead
03. In My Darkest Hour
A registered member of the official MEGADETH forum who goes by the name "ringocat22" has posted the following account of what transpired last night:
"[Second support band] TESTAMENT went off at 9:10. MEGADETH has been going on at 9:15, and I knew that wasn't going to happen.
"At around 9:45, I saw Shawn [Drover, MEGADETH drummer] get into position behind the drumset. About 10 minutes later, he went back off the stage.
"In between sets, there were at least two VERY LOUD static-y crackles from the PA system. You know the sound the needle makes when you first put it on a record? Like that, only at 5000 db. NOT a good sign.
"Sometime between 10 and 10:30, they completely changed out the soundboard. They then had to do soundcheck again. The crowd was really getting restless at this point, chanting obscenities, booing, pushing and shoving. I was starting to get a little nervous, but was very glad I was up in the balcony.
"At around 10:35 or so, I saw Shawn get back into position, then leave again shortly after. Dave [Mustaine] came out [see video below] and told us that the PA system was a [piece of shit], and they'd be on as soon as it was fixed.
"Around 11, they finally came on.
"I felt so bad for the guys ?the sound was just horrible. The Rams Head completely failed on this one. The vocals would be REALLY, REALLY LOUD one second, then completely gone the next. David's [Ellefson] bass kept popping WAY up in volume and completely overtaking everything, even the drums. David [Ellefson] and Chris [Broderick] were laughing and shaking their heads, but Dave was PISSED, and understandably so.
"They powered through 'Set The World On Fire', 'Wake Up Dead', and 'In My Darkest Hour' anyway. When that was over, Dave said they were going to try and fix the bass problem, and they left the stage.
"By now the booing was getting louder, and a couple of fights were close to breaking out. In the interest of personal safety, I made an executive decision and got out of there."
MEGADETH kicked off its "Rust In Peace 20th Anniversary Tour" on March 1 at the Knitting Factory in Spokane, Washington.
