Watch Marty Friedman perform Tornado of Souls and Holy Wars with Megadeth at Wacken 2023
The guitarist also joined the thrash metal giants for Symphony of Destruction and Trust.
Credit: EMB the 2nd/YouTube
One of the world’s biggest metal festivals – Wacken Open Air – took place over the weekend. As per, it played host to a vast lineup of rock and metal royalty, with the likes of Iron Maiden, Trivium, Anthrax, Killswitch Engage and Jinjer taking to the stage.
Megadeth also performed, and for their set they invited a very special guest.
After blazing through a selection of their classics – including Hangar 18, Wake Up Dead and Sweating Bullets and A Tout Le Monde – as well as a smattering of newer songs like 2022’s We’ll Be Back and 2016’s Dystopia, the band called up former guitarist Marty Friedman for four songs.
First, Friedman helped Dave Mustaine and co play Trust – the mid-tempo opener from 2004’s Cryptic Writings – before tackling two of the biggest songs in the band’s catalogue: Tornado of Souls and Symphony of Destruction.
For each song, Kiko Loureiro kindly took a step back to join Mustaine on rhythm guitar, while Friedman assumed lead duties. As you’d expect, Friedman looked completely at home, blazing effortlessly through the iconic solo of Tornado of Souls. Watch fan-shot footage below.
After the first trio of songs, Friedman departed the stage to let Megadeth’s current lineup perform Mechanix and Peace Sells, before rejoining them for the first track of the encore, thrash metal essential Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.
This isn’t the first time in recent memory Marty Friedman has joined Megadeth onstage. Just earlier this year, the guitarist joined the band during their livestreamed performance at Tokyo’s legendary Budokan. That said, this Wacken set marked the first time they played together in Europe for over 20 years.
Back in June, Dave Mustaine kickstarted a debate by saying Marty Friedman was the “only ex-Megadeth member who’s ever amounted to anything”.
In an interview with Bloodstock TV, he said: “No offence to the other guys – that’s how the facts are. If you look at their sales and stuff, Marty’s the only one that’s ever done anything significant.”