With a stunning ticket presale (something of a paradox in the modern reality here in Greece), the promoters moved the show to a bigger venue that resembled a little bit to a dance/techno club. The atmosphere was from a very early point electric and quite steaming as the crowd had almost filled the place and awaiting anxiously for Megadeth.

The opening act was called Kvelertak and for almost an hour they managed to warm-up the fans by presenting a highly energetic performance of modern, groovy metal (with lots of references to Machine Head) that won over the attendees. I have to say, though, that after a while all the songs sounded the same to my ears and the band should definitely work on the diversity of their compositions because they have every potential of achieving a remarkable career in metal. That’s my humble opinion…

At 22:40 Megadeth made their appearance with the familiar figure of Dave Mustaine (wearing his trademark white shirt and wristbands) being as expected the imposing and predominant one. Right beside him, Dave Ellefson added the much necessary glamour to the name and prestige of the band. Right from the opening songs “Never Dead”, “Head Crusher” it was plain obvious that the sound would not be up to par…especially Ellefson’s bass sounded awful at where I was standing (a point of view that was later reaffirmed by others). Nevertheless, the crowd wasn’t deterred –not even a bit- and supported Megadeth throughout the set with the chants “Megadeth, Megadeth” shattering the place at every single classic song. Also, the overall duration of the concert didn’t exceed the 85-minute mark thus making the whole performance simply satisfying and nothing more. As for the chosen songs, I must say that it was well-balanced (although I could have done without a couple of songs and listen instead to “Wake Up Dead” and “Devil’s Island”. Needless to say that there was an absolute panic among the fans when Megadeth was playing such classic as “Holy Wars”, “Symphony of Destruction”, “Sweating Bullets”, “A Tout Le Monde”, “Peace Sells”, “Trust” etc. On a side note, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see the band supporting their latest album “Thirteen” by doing 4 numbers of it: “Never Dead”, “Whose Life (Is It Anyways)”, “Public Enemy No. 1”, “Guns, Drugs and Money”.

All in all, it was a simply OK show with a mediocre sound and most definitely we have attended far better shows by Megadeth in the past!

Sakis Nikas