The Megadeth frontman announced his cancer diagnosis in June 2019.
Dave Mustaine jumped back on the road with Megadeth in late-January after completing his throat cancer treatments last October. The band’s halfway through a 24-date European tour – a ballsy undertaking for someone in recovery, but an indication of Mustaine’s overall condition.
During a show at London’s 12,000-cap Wembley Arena on January 31, Mustaine told the crowd his doctor had given him the all clear. He reportedly detoured into a discussion about his fight with cancer half way through the show.
The cancer diagnosis put a stop to the recording of Megadeth’s proposed 16th album, but Mustaine says he fought hard, primarily so that he could keep playing music. He reckons he had some help from up above, too.
“I know a lot of you guys know that I pray,” he said to the London audience. “I say that in [Megadeth’s] ‘Peace Sells’. I pray every day; I say that in the song.”
‘Peace Sells’, from Megadeth’s 1986 album Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, opens with the line: “What do you mean I don’t believe in God? I talk to him every day.”
Watch: Megadeth – Peace Sells
Mustaine also credited Megadeth fans and his family with giving him the extra strength to push back against the throat cancer.
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“I thought about you guys every day, too,” he said. “And I thought about my family. And I got this power from you guys and I just kept thinking about it.”
Mustaine also underwent 51 radiation treatments and nine chemotherapy treatments. This, plus praying, seems to have done the trick. “On October 16th, I went to go see the doctor, and he said, ‘You’re 100 percent free of cancer.’”
The band’s given no official updates on the status of their next album, which would follow 2016’s Dystopia.
Watch: Dave Mustaine – Why I was kicked out of Metallica
