Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has announced a European solo tour, featuring a full band playing songs from his recent solo release Sleeping Giants, and other metal classics. Featuring vocals by his More Life With Deth co-author Thom Hazaert, plus guitarist Andy Martongelli, who toured with Ellefson and Frank Bello’s Altitudes and Attitude, and appears on the Sleeping Giants track "Hammer (Comes Down)" (featuring vocals by Hazaert and Eric AK (Flotsam And Jetsam) with Chris Poland, Mark Tremonti, Dave McClain (Sacred Reich, ex-Machine Head), Joey Radziwill (Sacred Reich), and more).

Ellefson published his new memoir More Life With Deth in July via Jawbone Press, which was an Amazon #1 bestseller, along with a companion solo release Sleeping Giants, which features collaborations with Hazaert, DMC, John Bush, Mark Tremonti, Chris Poland, Bumblefoot, Dave McClain (Sacred Reich, ex-Machine Head), Joey Radziwill (Sacred Reich), Eric Ak and Steve Conley (Flotsam And Jetsam), David Glen Eisley, and more, and which debuted on 13 US Billboard Charts on release.

The tour kicks off November 3 in Wolverhampton with a live one-off show at K.K.’s Steel Mill featuring a full band set from Ellefson’s Sleeping Giants band, followed by a full-length set of Priest Classics with legendary former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, former Judas Priest drummer Les Binks, and former Judas Priest vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens. Former Iron Maiden vocalist, Blaze Bayley, will be the evening’s opening support act.

Additionally, the Steel Mill will also host a special pre-show VIP event whereby attendees will be treated to a More Life With Deth book signing event and one on one Q&A session with Ellefson, Downing & Hazaert, moderated by Mark Eglinton who co-authored K.K. Downing’s recent memoir, Heavy Duty Days And Nights In Judas Priest.

Says Downing, “I am very pleased to have been asked to perform a unique and special concert with Megadeth’s David Ellefson to celebrate the release of his new book More Life With Deth. The concert will also bring about the opportunity to play again with some very dear and talented metal legends from the past, the combination of these Icons will for sure enable us to deliver up one of the most exciting concerts this year, so much so that it would not be out of place to call this the ultimate ass kicking “MegaPriest” fest, and is one that is not to be missed.”

Adds Ellefson, “I speak very candidly in my new book More Life With Deth about the significance Judas Priest played in my early musical trajectory, specifically the Unleashed In The East live album with its picture-perfect image of what heavy metal should look and sound like. To me that album, along with its powerful cover image, captured the excitement I felt for a new era of music, one that would transition me from my roots in American hard rock over to that of British heavy metal. Over the years K.K and I became fast friends while we toured together with Priest & Megadeth, and I’m beyond thrilled to perform together onstage with him and his former Priest band mates, as we light up the Steel Mill together for a night of molten metal classics!”

He continues, “Thom (Hazaert) and I have been touring all summer across the USA supporting the new book and our Sleeping Giants release. Plus “Ripper” and I have shared stages all around the world in the last decade or so, and now to add Les Binks in the mix, who to my generation was the ultimate metal double bass drummer, this has become the ultimate ‘metal’ family reunion!”

Dates:

November
3 - Wolverhampton, England - KK’s Steel Mill (featuring K.K. Downing, Les Binks and Tim “Ripper” Owens)
4 - London, England - Camden Underworld
8 - Bellinzona, Switzerland - Pit
9 - Collegno, Italy - Padiglione 14
10 - Milano, Italy - Legend Club
12 - Bologna, Italy - Alchemica
13 - Tuoro Sul Trasimeno, Italy - Supernova
14 - Roma, Italy - Let It Beer

Ellefson will follow the European tour with his first ever solo Basstory clinic tour of South America.

November
19 - Ciudad Obregon, Mexico - Desert Bar
20 - Mexico City, Mexico - Teatro Ofelia
22 - Bogota, Colombia - Ace of Spades
23 - Quito, Ecuador - La Ideal
25 - Lima, Peru - Teatro Federico Garcia Lorca
26 - Santiago, Chile - Rock & Guitarras
28 - Asuncion, Paraguay - Centro Paraguayo Japonés
30 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Manifesto

December
1 - Manaus, Brazil - Teatro Manauara