How David Ellefson Felt Seeing Megadeth at Louder Than Life 2026

Last month, bassist David Ellefson’s current band (Metal Church) shared the stage with his former one (Megadeth) at the Louder Than Life festival. During the latest episode of his podcast – The David Ellefson Show – Ellefson spoke about why watching Megadeth perform was a “rearview mirror moment” that felt like seeing his “very first Megadeth concert.”

What Did Ellefson Say About Seeing Megadeth at Louder Than Life 2026?

For context, both Metal Church and Megadeth played the main stage at Louder Than Life on Sept. 17, with the former group playing about five hours before the latter (according to Blabbermouth).

At the start of the podcast, Ellefson and co-host Joshua Toomey (whose own band, Primer 55, played the event on Sept. 18) reflected on how 2026 has been going so far. Ellefson quickly went through Metal Church’s live “launch” earlier this year, including their stint at the festival.

“People were wondering . . .  ‘Oh my god. Metal Church is on the same day as Megadeth,’ you know?” Ellefson began, explaining:

I did see the guys. I went in to catering [and] Dave [Mustaine] was not there, so I didn’t see him. I’d heard he was there, and he walked out maybe when I walked in. I don’t know if that was related or not [laughs]. But anyway, we did not run into each other. I did say, “Hey” to Teemu [Mäntysaari, guitarist]. I introduced myself and said, “Hey, we all really like your guitar playing. Good job,” you know? Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] and James [LoMenzo, bass] I’ve known for a bit. Of course, I helped get Dirk in the band.

Then, Ellefson admitted that he “didn’t know how [he] was gonna respond” to watching Megadeth’s set:

I mean, it’s been five years . . . since I’ve been in the band. I’ve moved on; I’ve done so much other stuff. My era of Megadeth is my era, right? That’s an era that I’ll always be attached to. I’m getting ready to go [play with] Bass Warrior. We’re gonna play ‘Countdown To Extinction’ again for three weeks across Europe. Some cool new spots, actually. . . . So, that’s my era [of Megadeth]. As [former Megadeth drummer] Chris Adler always used to say, “My Megadeth.” “Would my Megadeth do that or not?”

I watched the band play. Me and [Metal Church drummer] Ken Mary went out front and sat front of house and watched it. It was like, “Well, there’s Dave and three other guys playing our songs” [laughs]. That’s all that it really – that it was, and [for] some things I went, “Yeah, I remember we did that. Okay, they move like that. They come together in ‘In My Darkest Hour.’ Whatever.”

Ellefson even said that he told former Megadeth guitarist Greg Handevidt that it felt like he was “watching [his] very first Megadeth show right now.”

He also told Alice Cooper the same thing:

In fact, I saw Alice Cooper right before that. . . . I said, “Hey, listen, I gotta bail. I’m gonna go out and watch my very first Megadeth concert.” And he goes, “Yeah, you should. They’re pretty good,” you know? So, Alice is always kind of a safe harbor. He’s a solid guy, and he’s got a great, great spirit and energy around him. So, it was kind of nice to connect with him before I went out there.

Then, Toomey asked Ellefson if he compared how he used to play “certain parts” to how LoMenzo played them.

Ellefson clarified:

No. James does a perfectly fine job playing the parts, [but] it doesn’t sound like me. He’s got a different tone. It’s a different thing, and I didn’t look at them – I didn’t look at him expecting him to be me. He’s not. He’s very clearly said that; he’s his own guy. Again, I guess it’s maybe like me with Kings of Thrash. It’s me and [ex-Megadeth guitarist] Jeff Young playing some songs we played together [and] some that we didn’t. I’d like to think we do a very good job of it. Representing. A lot of that is ’cause our drummer, Fred [Aching], is amazing and our singer, Chaz [Leon], is, like, a very, very amazingly great singer who’s a diehard fan [and] who gets into the character.

With that said, look, those guys are not Megadeth members. Me and Jeff were, you know what I  mean? So, people probably look [and say], “Okay, there’s the two guys.” I looked at Dave’s version of Megadeth and went, “Well, there’s one Megadeth guy: Dave.” And look, Dirk sounds great. He’s always played great [and] he’s a fantastic player. As soon as we auditioned him, right away we said – we got to the first chorus of “Symphony Of Destruction” and went, “Yep, that’s the guy.” And so that was fine.

Ellefson concluded:

So, yeah, just a different era [of Megadeth]. It was a rearview mirror moment, you know? It was kind of like, “Yeah, I remember being in that band years ago.” We had a different sound. As I always said, it doesn’t, to me, sound like my Megadeth; it sounds like Dave with three other guys playing the songs. And that’s not critical “yay” or “nay.” It’s just [that] that’s what it seemed like to me.

You can watch the entire episode of The David Ellefson Show below:

David Ellefson Discusses Seeing Megadeth at Louder Than Life + More (Oct. 23, 2026)

READ MORE: The Most + Least Played Song Off All 17 Megadeth Albums

Other Megadeth News

Earlier this month, Loudwire reported on Sharon Osbourne revealing that she wanted Megadeth to appear at last year’s Back to the Beginning event (which served as the farewell concert for both Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne).

She told Rolling Stone [transcribed by Loudwire]: “We really, really wanted Megadeth. There was no time, we couldn’t fit everybody in on one day. There were so many bands that were due to play that we just couldn’t because there was not enough time.”

Speaking of Metal Church, they’re currently on tour in support for 2026’s Dead to Rights, with multiple more dates scheduled in the U.S. throughout November. Following a few months off, they’re set to continue the U.S. and Brazil throughout March and April of 2027.

You can view all of their upcoming dates – and grab tickets – here!

Are you surprised by Ellefson’s remarks regarding Megadeth at Louder Than Life 2026? Let us know!

Also, check out the 14 biggest rock + metal tours announced for 2027 so far below!