Newsted Kicked Off Megadeth's Australian Dates

Some interesting developments have just emerged from Australia where it looks like Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine has had Jason Newsted booted off some shows.

Jason was set to support MegaDave et al on some Soundwave sideshows as both are billed to appear at the Australian mega-festival when it kicks off later this month. However, a no-nonsense statement from the Soundwave organisers have confirmed that this is no longer the case…

“At the request of Megadeth, Newsted will not be playing the above Sidewave shows and instead will be replaced by Whitechapel,” reads the piece on the official Soundwave website.

The plot thickens somewhat with a quick look at Soundwave organiser AJ Maddah’s Twitter page, where AJ admits that there is an issue that’s led to Jason leaving the shows, but adds that it might not be down to Dave Mustaine himself.

Given that Newsted and Megadeth have already toured the States together recently and seemed pretty chummy together, this all comes as a big surprise. We’ll see if we can get a statement from one of the camps involved shortly, so watch this space…

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.