Marty Friedman has reunited with his former band Megadeth for a one-off performance.
The reunion took place today (February 27) at Tokyo's legendary Nippon Budokan Arena during the band's first show of their 2023 world tour.
Friedman took to the stage towards the latter end of the LA thrash heavyweight's set, kicking off his appearance with a play through 1992's Countdown to Extinction, followed by renditions of Tornado Of Souls and Symphony Of Destruction.
Megadeth confirmed the mini reunion earlier this month in a statement posted by frontman Dave Mustaine, writing: "Marty and I have remained friends over 23 years, since we last played together. However, I hear his music every night, and he still is among the top guitar players I’ve ever heard. This is an amazing treat for the fans, as well as myself. To be honest, I may drift off while listening to [Megadeth's] Kiko [Loureiro] and Marty play together!"
Friedman announced the surprise performance himself a little earlier to Japanese media, declaring "Megadeth, the band I used to play in, will play live at Budokan. Believe it or not, I’m gonna jam with them!...It's gonna be a miraculously special night."
Following his time as part of Megadeth from 1990-2000, Friedman, whose adoptive home is Japan, went on to live in the country as a successful solo artist, and become a Japan Heritage ambassador in 2016. Recently, he even shared his own Japan Heritage theme song titled 日本遺産プロモーション映像.
"Japan is a small country with so much cool stuff packed tightly in it, it is truly a feast for your imagination," says Friedman. "Every culture has its own beautiful traits and Japan is certainly no exception. I am excited to show you my musical interpretation of Japan as a foreigner who has been here quite some time. If it resonates with you even a tiny bit, I'll be thrilled."
Watch Marty Friedman play Tornado Of Souls with Megadeth below:
Megadeth will play another night in Japan on February 28 at the Grand Cube in Osaka, before moving on to Australia.
They'll head over to the US on March 31 for a long stretch of dates, and then move across Europe from July 23 before they sign off with a final show on August 25.
