On August 4th, at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Marty Friedman once again joined MEGADETH on stage, marking his second appearance within a span of six months
The accomplished guitarist participated in four songs alongside his former bandmates: “Trust,” “Tornado Of Souls,” “Symphony Of Destruction,” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.”
Just recently, on Tuesday, August 15th, MEGADETH‘s guitarist Kiko Loureiro shared an exclusive 10-minute video on his YouTube channel. The video provides viewers with a behind-the-scenes look at Marty Friedman‘s latest reunion with the band. You can watch the video below.
Ahead of the performance at Wacken, band frontman Dave Mustaine hinted at Marty‘s surprise appearance through his social media posts. He urged the Wacken audience to head over to the faster stage, promising a special surprise that would be unmissable.
Before the Wacken festival this year, Friedman‘s most recent live collaboration with MEGADETH occurred in late February, during the band’s inaugural performance at Tokyo, Japan’s renowned Budokan arena. On that occasion, Friedman took the stage towards the end of the band’s main set and contributed to three songs: “Countdown To Extinction,” “Tornado Of Souls,” and “Symphony Of Destruction.”
Asked in a recent interview with The Aquarian Weekly what it was like to play with his old band again, Marty said: “It was wonderful. What I think is great about MEGADETH is that being a legacy act, there’s also new kids discovering them, and then they discover you and look to see what you’re doing now, so they get that experience of Marty Friedman as well.
“I’ve always been rooting for MEGADETH and they really did great,” he continued. “A lot of the things that they did in my absence led them to a very, very good place, and a lot because of Dave‘s effort and the bandmembers’ efforts. When they made it to Budokan, I was just so glad to hear that. Then they offered me to play and it was just the cherry on top. I had such a great time playing with them. It was something that the fans enjoyed as much as I did.”