Everybody had a great time at the Big Four shows a few years ago, which of course featured Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The last time these shows happened were in 2011 at Yankee Stadium (you can watch our report here). And, if you've been holding your breath for more shows with the four thrash titans, don't, because it isn't happening any time soon.
According to Slayer's Tom Araya, everybody is down to do it but one particular person. Hmm, would could that be?
Speaking with Gazette.net, Araya said about the possibility of more Big 4 shows:
“I don’t want to say politics is preventing that,” Araya said. “It’s not the politics between bands; it’s the politics of character in one particular band. We had an issue that came up on the New York show, which really freaked everybody out, but the New York show happened. I think, in all honesty, that was the last time we did the Big Four. I think another Big Four show might not happen. They could prove me wrong. Those shows basically, even though it was called the Big Four, it was done through Metallica. It was with Metallica’s blessing that allowed those shows to happen. If they want to continue and do a couple more shows, I think that would be great … if we were to sit down with them and communicate with them, that’s what I’d tell them.”
The "issue" that Araya is talking about has to be Dave Mustaine's neck problems the day before the Big 4 shows. There was some speculation the day before that Megadeth was going to cancel playing the big Yankee Stadium show, so much so, that Exodus were flown in as a last minute back up. According to Mustaine, God got him through the show and he had surgery shortly after it.
Beyond that "issue," the reason I think Araya is talking about Mustaine is because MegaDave has previously said he doesn't feel comfortable going on before Slayer, even though, and this is just judging by the amount of Slayer shirts I saw the day of the Big 4 concert, Slayer is a much bigger band. Mustaine even publically discussed his displeasure with opening for Slayer in his memoir, and was quoted a New York Times piece:
Mr. Mustaine of Megadeth recently set aside some space in his autobiography, “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir,” to address the issue of where his band fit in the Big Four order. He assured the reader that he was not offended by being put behind Slayer. But he added an interior monologue, italics his: “O.K., we’ll play ahead of you guys on this trip, and God willing we’ll do it again sometime in the near future and we can flip things around.”
So, I'm going to assume it's him, because who else would it be? Metallica, maybe? But I don't see why they'd be so adamant about not doing it again… the shows made them a lot of money.
Either way, the time has passed for the Big Four shows and you were either there or you weren't. Would you want to see another iteration of this package?
