MEGADETH delivered a notable surprise during its headlining performance on April 26 at Movistar Arena in Bogotá, Colombia, unveiling a live debut of its rendition of “Ride the Lightning” — the iconic title track from METALLICA’s 1984 album. Fan-filmed footage of the performance has since surfaced online.
The track carries a unique historical weight, as Dave Mustaine received a co-writing credit on the original version alongside James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and the late Cliff Burton, prior to his departure from METALLICA in 1983. Decades later, Mustaine has revisited the song on MEGADETH’s latest, self-titled album — marking a full-circle moment in his career.
Mustaine previously elaborated on his decision to include a cover of “Ride the Lightning” on the album during an appearance on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM.
He said: “Well, we were past the halfway point in the album. ‘Cause that song ended up being song number 13. And when the time came to do that, we were talking about — what we usually do is a rendition of somebody’s song that we like or something like that, or a remake.
“And when I was talking with [my son] Justis [who is part of the MEGADETH management team], he had said, ‘Why don’t you do ‘Ride The Lightning’?’ And I kind of looked at him like, ‘Hmm.’ And then I thought about it. I said, ‘That’s probably a good idea.’ And I said, ‘Let’s try it.’ We tried it. It was cool. And I said to the band guys, ‘Okay, if we’re gonna do this, let’s make sure that we do it as good as the original or better.’ ‘Cause we gotta do that. If we’re gonna honor those guys by doing a new version of the song that I did with James [Hetfield], I think it’s important to make it as good or better. And what we did was we sped it up a little bit, and the drum fills at the very end, I told Dirk [Verbeuren, MEGADETH drummer], ‘Have fun there. And you can beef it up if you want’.
In a separate interview with Metal Hammer, Mustaine reflected on the deeper meaning behind revisiting the track: “I think it was the right time to record it and close the circle. I think it was the right time to record it and close the circle. It’s back to where I came from, and honestly, it’s a good song, we played it really well. We sped it up a little bit, but I personally think when you’re going to do a version of a song then you have to make it just as good or if not better. I really think that we’ve done it just as good the original.”
“I’ve always respected James’ playing and so this is a tip of a hat to him and to METALLICA for everything that they’ve done, and everything that we’ve done,” he added. “That legacy that really happened in that teeny little garage in Norwalk, California.”
The release of Megadeth marked a career milestone for the band, becoming their first No. 1 album in the U.S., debuting at the top of the charts with 73,000 equivalent album units in the week ending January 29, according to Luminate. Pure album sales drove the majority of that total, with 69,000 physical and digital copies sold.
Setlist for Bogotá show was as follows:
01. Tipping Point
02. Hangar 18
03. Wake Up Dead
04. In My Darkest Hour
05. Skin O’ My Teeth
06. I Don’t Care
07. She-Wolf
08. Sweating Bullets
09. This Was My Life
10. Angry Again
11. Trust
12. Tornado Of Souls
13. Let There Be Shred
14. Mechanix
15. Ride The Lightning (METALLICA song) (Live debut)
16. Peace Sells
17. Symphony Of Destruction
Encore:
18. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.