Dave Mustaine's hilariously bad symphony performance is why we can't have nice things

by Tyler Munro

By all accounts, Dave Mustaine is the worst. Metallica shot to stardom instantly after booting him out, and his last two decades of prominence have bookended terrible albums with one crazy stunt after another. Sure, he’s done some good, but for every soup kitchen there’s a bizarre Obama conspiracy theory or a discount menswear store, and this weekend that contrast took head when he performed with the San Diego Symphony and, for lack of a better phrase, absolutely ruined it.

Dave has, in spite of himself, often been considered a pretty solid guitarist. And since he fancies himself a bit of a scholar, his loftiest ambitions came to fruition when the symphony invited him to perform at the unfortunately titled Symphony Interrupted, but S&M this was not.

During Richard Wagner’s “Ride Of The Valkyries,” his tone wasn’t just pressing, but off-putting, sounding here like his ears had failed him outright. Not so much out of key as nowhere near it.

But the real tragedy came during a bach’d rendition of Vivaldi’s “Summer,” during which Mustaine solo’d with the precision of those Creed Shreds videos.

Honestly, we almost feel bad for the guy. Say what you will about him as a person, pedant and problem-starter, but Mustaine’s no doubt a better shredder than these videos indicate. Still, maybe they should hit up Marty Friedman next time, just to be safe. [H/T Metalsucks]