Dave Mustaine spoke about the end of Megadeth and about what comes next at an event in New York this month. He described the farewell tour as bittersweet and admitted he has no specific plan for what follows.
He appeared at the Kaufman Music Center on September 8 in conversation with Rolling Stone’s Kory Grow, on the occasion of the release of his memoir «In My Darkest Hour» the same day.
On how he experiences the tour: «It’s bittersweet. It’s not a good feeling, that I can tell you. Every night, climbing the stairs, I say the same thing, something personal: “It’s your stage”. And then I go out and do my job, the gift God gave me».
On life after: «I’ll definitely be involved in music to some degree, whether listening to it or making it. I don’t know. I hope God heals me and that some new technology comes along that says “put your hand in this glove” and gives it back to me brand new».
The hand isn’t a detail: it’s the reason for the departure. Mustaine has Dupuytren’s contracture, in which tissue beneath the skin of the palm thickens and gradually pulls one or more fingers. He himself has called it «Viking hand», referring to the condition’s frequency among northern European populations. As the Mayo Clinic notes, there is no treatment that reverses it — therapy relieves symptoms and slows progression. He announced the diagnosis in December 2025, when Megadeth announced their final album and tour.
He has also spoken about arthritis in his fingers, herniated discs and an older spinal fusion. On Spain’s «MariskalRockTV» he said he didn’t make any set decision: «No, I just mentioned it. We were working in the studio and it was very tough weeks, with deadlines and my hands hurting a lot». On the possibility of surgery, he explained his logic: «If I try it now and I’m at 95% and the operation sets me back, that would be a bad decision. If I wait until my hands cause a serious problem and it doesn’t work, at least I’ll have toured everywhere and said goodbye properly». In other words, surgery comes after the tour.
On unreleased material he said there is some, without committing: «There are tracks, parts and bits. There are two finished songs from the last record, with James LoMenzo, Teemu Mäntysaari and Dirk Verbeuren, that never came out». Megadeth’s self-titled seventeenth album was released on January 23 and became their first to enter the Billboard 200 at number one. The «This Was Our Life» farewell tour opened on February 15 in Victoria, British Columbia, with Mustaine telling Kerrang! it is likely to last three to five years. The memoir, written with Joe Layden, came out on September 8 in the US via Da Capo and is released in Britain on September 24 via Constable. Mustaine turned 65 last week and formed Megadeth in 1983.
See also: Dave Mustaine says Megadeth «opened doors» | David Ellefson: December in Europe with «Countdown To Extinction» in full
