MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has issued the following update:

"What a great day to get up and write to you all. I know that I have been very busy, and that there were a lot of times over the last few months that you may have seen me darting in or out of a building, and I was unable to stay and chit-chat. Well, I am relatively sorry for that, although there are sometimes, and we all have them, when you are with someone you can talk to for hours and never want to leave . . . or then there's conversations for mere seconds, where the dead fish smell that permeates every conversation like that at the "are you just about finished yet?" moment.

It was great seeing all of the bands that we saw on the last tour, and I for one am ecstatic about the reviews that you have given us. The press has been really kind too (which makes me tremble), and I have to say that I have just experienced one of the best trips around the world so far with United Abominations that I have had with damn near any previous record.

Seeing people that I really respect too has made it fantastic! Stars on the stage and the stars behind them too were everywhere i turned. I didn't go one day without seeing someone that I loved, or liked and that I had worked with or toured with in the past.

I got to see how many people around the world know and love James Lomenzo (bass), which just continues to solidify his place in Megadeth, and I also got to spend time with him myself when I was having the "rough times" that we all go over whilst on tour.

And the relentless comedy the Drover brothers (Glen and Shawn) provide is priceless (although the intellect of the jokes are worthless), and we laughed probably 50% of the trip around the world. I was semi-concerned because they are fans of so many of the bands that we have played with, some I influenced, some I even know, and there was one incident where they got snubbed by a band they were huge fans of, and I told them, "that is why we never treat the fans like that."

Sadly, there is still that backstage poseur shit going on.

I doubt the band they went to say hello to knew who they were, but still, it was bad form and I laughed because it only served to piss them off and they said before they went on stage, " . . . gonna kill those guys . . . pricks . . . ect." And we had fun!!!

There were only a few shows with technical difficulties, and there were a few shows that we wished we played at different time slots, or lengths, or stages, but most importantly we got to see you, to show you that we are back and we are serious, and that we are coming to see you as soon as we can.

We have dozens of offers for dates in the USA, Canada, the UK and Europe again, South America, Japan, Australia, and several new countries in the Pac Rim on our schedule. We are trying to go into China, South Korea, and some southern countries like Indonesia again.

My hope is to one day go to South Africa, but for now, for this split second of divinity, I am happy just being in my teensy office at home.

I would like to say thank you to the crew personnel that we have worked with so far this tour, there have been many great professionals and we wish you well. Some we have had to part ways with as paths cross and then un-cross again; and some were only temporary employees, too. I hope that we all will always remain friends for what we accomplished these last two years restocking my "Warchest".

Last, but not least, I started writing some stuff whilst in Germany, as I am sure the others have too, so we are going to try to get back into the studio before 2009.

We are still making a lot of great improvements around here at all-things-mega, and now that we are back home, a lot of the neat stuff we picked up along the way will be sent to the Official Megadeth EBay Store, and I even think that Glen Drover (guitar) is going to have one of his Axe's for auction soon.

I hope everyone has a great day - this special day - seven - seven - seven."