MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE: First Day Of GIGANTOUR Pre-Production

MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message in the "Forums" section of the band's official web site:

"I have to tell you that what I thought was going to be a questionable afternoon out in Cadott, Wisconsin, turned out to be a really kewl evening afterall.

"One must remember that I was friends with some of the guys in both RATT and CINDERELLA, regardless of what some of you may be saying, and it was quite fun and amusing to see them.

"I unfortunately missed RATT, but wanted to see them because Warren is such a genius on guiter, and actually pulling off some of the best guitar solos in a rock radio type band. I don't know how to catagorize them other than my friends, and except for catching up with Bobby (who always seemed to be the most no-nonsense guys of all of the band),and seeing Warren for two minutes, I completely missed them.

"Next up was UFO, and I was pumped to see them, but I think I had too high of expections and dejectedly crawled away from the stage after the third song, because my heroes were not the same. I don't know who the guitar player was, and he was pretty good, but no Paul Chapman, and NEVER Michael 'the Madman' Schenker. And where the hell is Pete Way!!!

"Fortunately after that suprise, seeing Jeff LaBar and the boys in CINDERELLA was kewl. Regardless of what the 'I hate every thing cuz I like metal' rulebook says, I can recognize good pop songwriting, and Tom has a unique and fantastic rock vocalist sound.

"Well, now it is our turn, and all I kept thinking about (and laughing) was what Willie Gee was saying before we went to get ready. While doing a Paul Stanley impression about the girls of Wiconsin, he said, 'Oy Vey,' which he has disquised as 'Oh Yeah' over the years, and continued . . . 'I know why they call this place the Dairy State,' and as I am sure you could imagine the audience waiting with baited breath for Pauly to tell us why.

"He finished by saying, again, 'Oy Vey, because you girls have some big titties!'

"I laughed so hard, and all I could think about was the faces of the fans. I could see it now, . . . 'If you believe in rock and roll -woah-woah, you sing along on this next song. Utter!' Paul Stanely, you rock!!

"The end of the show was the best part, because the reserved seats I was told were purchased for the entire weeked in some cases, and after it got late, a lot of people were heading off, so I said at the last song to the security if they would be so kind as to allow the people in the back to come down front for this last song and it worked beautifully. And on one got hurt.

"Last night was the first day of full on pre-production, and besides making the set-list, and trying to get to know these fine men and women that would partake in this maiden voyage, I made some improvements with my rig, our stage volumes, and lead patches.

"Today, I am going to go surfing with my wife and kids, and the Drovers are going to go down there too at some point. Then it is down to do my first walk through with pyro. I am so excited about this. This will be my next step up the ladder and I hope that it brings as much excitement to the shows as I feel when I see others doing it.

"Our beloved webmaster should just about be ready to have the blogs, journals, and chat room ready, if they aren't already now. So go over to the Gigantour site and make yourself at home, because that is going to be the main site for all of the activity for all the bands for the next two months.

"And I have noticed alot of my favorite regulars here are nowhere to be seen over there. What gives? Anyway, I love you all, and can't wait to share this next stage of my life with you again."