The final night of Megadeth’s Rust in Peace Tour 2010 is immortalized and available now on Blu-ray DVD and CD. It not only celebrates the 20th anniversary of the 1990 thrash metal masterpiece, but the return of much missed original bassist, David Ellefson. The performance caps off the band’s hometown gig mere blocks from where Megadeth began.

As someone who was at the concert, I didn’t feel the intensity of that show could be translated onto film. There was something very special about being part of the unrelenting audience who, at times, sang louder than Dave Mustaine. Our intensity rivaled Megadeth’s, and it came in handy toward the end when Mustaine’s voice began to give out.

I’m glad that the Blu-ray does the performance justice by capturing the atmosphere and elation in every fan’s face as Megadeth rip through “Hangar 18,” “Tornado of Souls” and the ever-popular “Symphony of Destruction.”

Rust in Peace Live is special for the reasons above and also because this is the band’s first Blu-ray release. As technology finally catches up to Megadeth (yes, you read that right), who knew we’d live to see the day of Mustaine’s chest hair in HD?

The only thing that the Blu-ray couldn’t capture was how hot the Palladium got with everyone’s body heat.

One downfall is that there aren’t enough extras. The short behind-the-scenes stuff really softens Mustaine’s often-criticized reputation in metal. He makes an effort to meet with the production people who put this project together. It’s cool to see rock stars showing humility. The rehearsal performance teased about also doesn’t do much, but it’s nice to see how the band practices and that they take the time, aside from sound check, to hone the material down and blow away the audience.

Grade: A-



Rust in Peace Live is currently available.