Megadeth Rip Through Metallica’s ‘Ride the Lightning’ for the First Time Live

By Kory Grow

Kory Grow

Dave Mustaine revisited his garage days with Metallica on Sunday when he and his band Megadeth performed two tracks Mustaine helped write and record during his brief stint with his old band.

At a show in Bogotá, Colombia Sunday night (April 26), Megadeth played “The Mechanix” — a song off Metallica’s famed No Life ‘Til Leather demo, which Mustaine had written in an earlier band — and “Ride the Lightning,” the title-track of Metallica’s second album. While “Ride the Lightning” was completed and released after Mustaine’s short tenure in Metallica ended, he still received a writing credit for the song’s riffs. The performance in Bogotá marked the first time Megadeth had ever performed “Ride the Lightning” live.

Fan-shot video shows the band playing a reverent rendition of “Ride the Lightning,” with Mustaine singing the lyrics and trading off parts of Kirk Hammett’s solo with Megadeth guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari. Notably, the Colombian fans were so excited to hear the song that they sang along with the opening guitar riff.

Megadeth recorded a cover of the song for their self-titled 17th album — and ostensibly their last — which was a Number One hit when it came out in January. Although Mustaine has had a fraught, on-again, off-again relationship with his former Metallica bandmates, the recording came from a place of genuine warmth for him. “I wanted to pay tribute to the band,” Mustaine told Rolling Stone in October. “And just now that I’m getting ready to hang my guitar up, I wanted to make sure that nothing is left unsaid.”

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