The Columbia Dispatch has issued the following report from Curtis Schieber:

MEGADETH brought the brand of thrash metal it has helped define for 24 years to the Newport Music Hall last night for a sometimes scorching set that had the capacity crowd pumping fists like it did for the band at its height. There have been stops and starts in the group’s career - most notably during singer, songwriter and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine’s two-year recovery from a serious arm injury five years ago, as well as personnel changes -- but those seemed distant last night.

Mustaine said that an interviewer recently asked if he thought his lyrics, which have focused obsessively on humanity’s penchant for war, corruption and cruelty, are still relevant. He offered the obvious answer, enumerating real and possible future battle zones in the Middle East and Asia.

A scorching reading late in the set of 'Peace Sells' (the chorus of which continues: “ … but who’s buying?”) drove the point home. “Trust me,” he said, “If I didn’t think I’d get assassinated, I’d love to run for your next presidency.”

Little in Mustaine’s observations, especially those on the band’s new album United Abominations, in which the songwriter seems to find the situation more dire than ever, sound outdated.

Perhaps, though, the interviewer in question was asking more about the band’s musical style, its roots pretty clearly stated in the sound system’s playing LED ZEPPELIN before Megadeth took the stage. On that front, there were a few near-“Spinal Tap” moments, including a couple of speedy, million-note guitar solos that were comical in their angularity.

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