Dave Mustaine says he has a painful hand condition and it’s part of the reason Megadeth is releasing a final album and embarking on a farewell tour.
The condition is called Dupuytren’s contracture, which causes one or more fingers to bend toward the palm of the hand. Effectively, the affected fingers cannot straighten out completely. Typically, the condition develops from smaller, painless nodules under the skin of the palm into more severe thickened tissue.
“It’s already started, where it’s kind of bunching up a little bit,” Mustaine recently explained to MariskalRockTV. “And then if you look at the tips of my fingers, they’re severely arthritic. So all those bumps makes it really painful to play.”
Mustaine says that he plans to undergo surgery for the condition, but not until after Megadeth’s upcoming farewell tour.
“If I wait until my hands are causing a problem and I try it and it doesn’t work, well then I’ve toured everywhere, I’ve said farewell everybody and am not leaving stuff unsaid or unfinished,” he said.
When Does Megadeth’s Farewell Tour Begin and End?
Megadeth is scheduled to launch their farewell tour on Feb. 15 in Canada, and at the moment, it’s unclear when exactly the tour will end.
“We’re easily talking about touring for another three to five years,” he told Kerrang! earlier this year. “And if we’re going to be doing it for that long then, s–t, I’ll be looking at the birthday I don’t even want to think about!”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
