Dave Mustaine on why he flipped out at Judas Priest’s crew

Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine said he was “so mad” when Judas Priest‘s crew started their soundcheck while Megadeth was still performing. The incident happened last month during a Barcelona festival.

Barcelona Rock Fest has two main stages side by side, which is meant to eliminate the hard choice fans sometimes have of choosing between two bands that are playing at the same time. While one band is playing on one of the stages, the crew of the upcoming show prepares the other stage.

When Megadeth was interrupted by the next stage’s soundcheck, the frontman flipped out at the guitar tech, even showing him his middle finger:

“The last night of the tour — we went all the way to the last fucking night, and then some pussy over on the stage next to us has to start playing while we’re playing. How fucking pathetic, amateur piece of shit you are.”

In a recent interview to TalkShopLive, Mustaine addressed the issue:

“Recently I had an outburst onstage, and it was one of the only ones I’ve had in years. And it wasn’t because somebody did something and I just reacted. It was the third time something had happened to us, and by the third time it happened, I just said ‘enough.’

We were in Belgium, Graspop. And Whitesnake‘s road crew thought it was okay to soundcheck during our set. Talk about amateurs. Then Deep Purple did the same thing a couple of days later at Hellfest. More amateurs. I know the band wouldn’t have done that. And then the last time it happened, on the very last show of the tour, the crew for Judas Priest did it. And I lost it. I almost went over there and said something to the guy’s face because I was just burning hot; I was so mad.”

Mustaine goes on:

“There are two ways to look at this here. Total unprofessionalism on the part of the crews and on the part of the stage managers, the production managers at those festivals.

Do I think the promoter did it? No, I don’t think the promoter did it. Do I think the bandmembers did it? No, I don’t think so. In fact, we just finished a tribute song we were working on for Judas Priest, and if I thought the band did it, I would have stopped doing the song.

A lot of these guys, they go out on the road and they don’t get paid very well. So they drink, they smoke, they do whatever — some do, some don’t. But you find the people that don’t do that, those are the ones that are the professionals; they know not to do that.

Do I hate these people? No. Was it uncool? Yeah. Do I forgive ’em? Totally. But it still was one of those things.”