At Hersheypark Stadium in Pennsylvania, on the night of Tuesday, September 15, James LoMenzo’s bass made no sound at all when the opening theme of «Peace Sells» began. Megadeth were opening for Iron Maiden on the «Run For Your Lives» tour.
LoMenzo had addressed the crowd briefly before starting, played and realized nothing was coming through the speakers. The incident was captured in a video posted on the «Jim Powers» YouTube channel.
It’s one of the most awkward spots for something to go wrong: «Peace Sells» is next to last in the set, right before «Holy Wars… The Punishment Due», and opens with bare bass. It’s one of the most recognizable themes in the genre, known even beyond the metal audience from the years it played as the MTV News theme.
The incident came four days before the album’s fortieth anniversary: «Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?» was released on September 19, 1986 via Capitol and went platinum. The bass on that recording was played by David Ellefson, who founded the band with Dave Mustaine in 1983 and left for the last time in 2021. LoMenzo has played it live in two spells, from 2006 to 2010 and again since Ellefson’s departure.
Megadeth are on the farewell tour that opened on February 15 in Victoria, British Columbia, and the schedule isn’t slowing down: the US dates run through the end of the month, followed by South Korea in October and Oceania in November, while Japan and Europe are already booked for 2027. There are changes in the set too: at Jiffy Lube Live in Virginia last week they added «Mechanix» and their own version of Metallica’s «Ride The Lightning». Their self-titled album was released on January 23 and became the band’s first to enter the Billboard 200 at number one. Today’s lineup is Mustaine, LoMenzo, Teemu Mäntysaari and Dirk Verbeuren.
See also: Dave Mustaine says Megadeth «opened doors» | David Ellefson: December in Europe with «Countdown To Extinction» in full
Source: https://metal-stop.com/james-lomenzos-bass-cuts-out-during-the-peace-sells-intro-at-megadeths-hershey-show/
