Are Megadeth out of Soundwave 2014?
It started last week. A tweet from AJ to Fasterlouder saying "Dust off your SW bands feuding stories. We're about to have a new one :(" implied problems were about to unfold. That day, an official Soundwave media release said "At the request of Megadeth, Newsted will not be playing their (Megadeth’s) sidewave shows and instead will be replaced by Whitechapel". There was a lot of head scratching going on at this point, as Megadeth and Newsted had been touring together across the US as part of the Gigantouralong with Black Label Society, and Hellyeah.
There were all sorts of stories flying around after that. Claims were made of supposed approved support acts for Megadeth's sideshows and the fact that those requests were ignored.
Then this morning, Megadeth posted on their Facebook page that they'd cancelled their upcoming Australian Soundwave shows. "Due to circumstances beyond its control, unfortunately Megadeth has to cancel their Australian dates. Megadeth's decision is unrelated to the fact that Jason Newsted is performing at Soundwave. Jason and I spoke recently and continue to be friends. - Dave Mustaine, Megadeth"
Dave Mustaine then posted on his own Facebook page "All I asked for was an apology for blaming me for something I didn't do. I am still willing to play, but the promoter would rather not apologize and prefers to say I asked him to lie, which I didn't. Am I the only one that sees how easy it is to fix this? The AJ Maddah that I know is a wise and caring man, and I don't know what has happened to my old friend. My bags are packed Aussie fans."
One could probably assume that Dave Mustaine isn't happy about being blamed for personally kicking Newsted off the Megadeth sideshows...
This has lead to all sorts of social media shenanigans. Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah has tried to sort things out, but to no avail. in the end, he had to resort to numerous tweets to Mustaine, as apparently, he wouldn't answer his phone.
AJ Maddah to Dave Mustaine in a matter of just 10 minutes:
"Dave, we have been friends for a long time and I love you. Your family is like my own."
"But the only people being punished here are the fans."
"We took instructions from your representatives and we acted on those instructions as we would with any other artist."
"I realise that you fired your agent and manager and appointed new ones during the process..."
"And that there may have been misunderstandings or miscommunications but none of those were at our end."
"Despite of this, I sent you a statement regarding possible misunderstandings/miscommunications, apologising to fans, etc,"
"...even though my people did everything by the book and correct protocol was undertaken getting approvals for supports."
"There are strings of emails supporting this, including ones forwarded with instructions to remove certain artists."
"I am not sure where and how you believe you are owed an apology. And if you are, it should be from your own reps!"
"All you are doing by cancelling is punishing the fans who have had no part in any of this."
"Your reps approved your supports and sent clear instructions. They even approved artwork and press release."
"If you have a quarrel, or you were not consulted then your issue is with your reps and not Australian reps or your old friend!"
And finally, just what Mustaine wanted...
"So here it is Dave.I apologize for whatever slight you think I have done to you"
Is this enough to get Megadeth back on the lineup? Only time will tell. When a fan quizzed AJ with "so megadeth is seriously gone. Nothing more to it?" his response was "There is a lot more to it, but I can't say as i am trying to convince him to come out".
There were all sorts of stories flying around after that. Claims were made of supposed approved support acts for Megadeth's sideshows and the fact that those requests were ignored.
Then this morning, Megadeth posted on their Facebook page that they'd cancelled their upcoming Australian Soundwave shows. "Due to circumstances beyond its control, unfortunately Megadeth has to cancel their Australian dates. Megadeth's decision is unrelated to the fact that Jason Newsted is performing at Soundwave. Jason and I spoke recently and continue to be friends. - Dave Mustaine, Megadeth"
Dave Mustaine then posted on his own Facebook page "All I asked for was an apology for blaming me for something I didn't do. I am still willing to play, but the promoter would rather not apologize and prefers to say I asked him to lie, which I didn't. Am I the only one that sees how easy it is to fix this? The AJ Maddah that I know is a wise and caring man, and I don't know what has happened to my old friend. My bags are packed Aussie fans."
One could probably assume that Dave Mustaine isn't happy about being blamed for personally kicking Newsted off the Megadeth sideshows...
This has lead to all sorts of social media shenanigans. Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah has tried to sort things out, but to no avail. in the end, he had to resort to numerous tweets to Mustaine, as apparently, he wouldn't answer his phone.
AJ Maddah to Dave Mustaine in a matter of just 10 minutes:
"Dave, we have been friends for a long time and I love you. Your family is like my own."
"But the only people being punished here are the fans."
"We took instructions from your representatives and we acted on those instructions as we would with any other artist."
"I realise that you fired your agent and manager and appointed new ones during the process..."
"And that there may have been misunderstandings or miscommunications but none of those were at our end."
"Despite of this, I sent you a statement regarding possible misunderstandings/miscommunications, apologising to fans, etc,"
"...even though my people did everything by the book and correct protocol was undertaken getting approvals for supports."
"There are strings of emails supporting this, including ones forwarded with instructions to remove certain artists."
"I am not sure where and how you believe you are owed an apology. And if you are, it should be from your own reps!"
"All you are doing by cancelling is punishing the fans who have had no part in any of this."
"Your reps approved your supports and sent clear instructions. They even approved artwork and press release."
"If you have a quarrel, or you were not consulted then your issue is with your reps and not Australian reps or your old friend!"
And finally, just what Mustaine wanted...
"So here it is Dave.I apologize for whatever slight you think I have done to you"
Is this enough to get Megadeth back on the lineup? Only time will tell. When a fan quizzed AJ with "so megadeth is seriously gone. Nothing more to it?" his response was "There is a lot more to it, but I can't say as i am trying to convince him to come out".