Dave Mustaine of Megadeth reveals he has throat cancer

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth has been diagnosed with throat cancer, he revealed yesterday in a statement.

In a message posted to the band’s official website as well as his own personal social media channels, the 57-year-old frontman wrote: “I’ve been diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s clearly something to be respected and faced head on – but I’ve faced obstacles before. I’m working closely with my doctors, and we’ve mapped out a treatment plan which they feel has a 90 per cent success rate.”

He also revealed that the band will be cancelling “most shows this year”, save the Megacruise, their official festival-on-the-high-seas scheduled to take place this October. The band were due to perform in Montreal tonight and continue a summer tour of North America. Those tour dates have since been removed from the official Megadeth website.

But Mustaine was quick to assure fans that “Megadeth will be back on the road ASAP”, also noting that the band are still hard at work on their next album, the follow-up to 2016’s Dystopia.

Messages of goodwill have poured in for Mustaine since his diagnosis was revealed. The likes of Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, Anthrax, Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton and Trivium’s Matt Heafy have all sent their support to the frontman.

I’ve been diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s clearly something to be respected and faced head on – but I’ve faced obstacles before. I’m working closely with my doctors, and we’ve mapped out a treatment plan which they feel has a 90% success rate… https://t.co/8FBQUmloSf pic.twitter.com/CPuu2UFPv1

— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) June 17, 2019