MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has issued the following update via the Gigantour.com web site:

"Today is Monday and there is one week left before we leave for Alaska. We will come home after that for 16 days and then it is off to the Pac Rim, and eventually to Australia, to start this awesome line-up of Gigantour 2007 in Australia, better known as G.2007.OZ!

"I know not everyone here is a MEGADETH or Dave Mustaine fan, but hopefully that will change after we play for you, or better yet, meet with you, and until then chat and post with you here.

"I don't use slang or abbr. much, due to there being so many ages and different nationalities here. I want to be as clear with what I say so that our friends around the rest of the world that cannot come see us, can 'live out' the concert through you loyal metal fans; through your ears and eyes, through the one thing that we all have in common — love for this kind of music!.

"Gigantour this year will consist of four bands again, as you may have seen the way we did it on our 'Maiden Voyage' last year. We played with Max Cavalera and his band SOULFLY, Michael and Angela of ARCH ENEMY, and the guys from CALIBAN (which I didn't get a chance to hang out with as much as I would have liked to) in 2006, and while I think most musicians dream of playing in 'exotic, far-away places,' the Aussie audience, it is something to be reckoned with. I mean beautiful tan faces of guys and girls of all ages, rugged lads and lasses from all over the Island, and they have such a 'Don't-fuck-with-me-and-I-won't-fuck-with-you' attitude in the pit, that while it seems friendly, there is also a very powerful and intimidating energy that you know could light a small city and it could change into a fire-breathing dragon!

"Whew!!!

"Seeing the guys in STATIC-X should be interesting because we haven't seen them since we last toured in the '90s and they were just converging on the metal scene - from my knowledge, that is. I also am friends with Dez from DEVILDRIVER and we met years ago when he was in COAL CHAMBER and Sharon Osbourne managed them. Dez promises to sit me down with a good bottle of wine, and there's no better place so far, since I really like Australia Shiraz (but what the hell do I know — as long as it doesn't say 'Maddog 20-20' on it I am good).

"And how can I forget LACUNA COIL? I think that everyone will be expecting Ms. Scabbia to join me/us to sing 'A Tout Le Monde' and while I hope that happens, I haven't asked her yet, so keep your fingers crossed! :-)

"Lastly, to the good people of Perth, as you know many years ago MEGADETH first came to Australia, and it was great! We fell in love with Oz, and we thought we were coming back soon after our first trip there; we just needed to get through Japan.

"Well, that is were the aforementioned Dragon of Oz first popped up, and we had to cancel Australia because someone (not me) ran out of illegal, medical type, sniffing or casually injectable street powder! So, naturally the blame was on us, (me, really and i wasn't the one who ran out!) and it was bad. We didn't return for a great many years.

"This time though, I remember playing with so much passion and excitement on Gigantour 2006 OZ. I have never felt so loved and anticipated by the Aussie fans in all my years of our records being available down under; from the several concerts we have played, to the 'almost self-imposed prison' we damn near put ourselves into. Yes, I am thrilled to come back to Australia, and especially to go to Perth: it almost isn't a real OZ Tour if you can't do both sides of the country. I mean it is nice, but Australia is about as old as the USA and about as big, and it would be like only playing NY, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and thinking that that is a US tour?!?!

"There is also going to be a celebration of sorts, because I can remember walking down a street to dinner with our partner, A.J. Maddah, in Australia for Gigantour for 2006 and 2007, and we were talking about the subject matter that makes up the song Amerikhastan. A.J. is a genius and we had some very stimulating conversations, some of which was about the Statue of Liberty, some on Halliburton's involvement, some on the republican scandal with young pages' pants being pulled down 'in secret,' by some guys 'in the Senate' and 'in the House of Representatives,' or more apropos, 'in the closet,' and how some democrats don't care, and will pull anyones pants down.

"So, that's it for me for the week. Stay tuned as we get the other bands aware of this great community here, and get the band-members, webmasters, and entire entourage with them, including all of the online fan-bases feeling welcome here.

"It is my personal invitation to become part of this forum and help us spread the cheer internationally of Gigantour as we all have a hand in building a festival for international metal fans around the world.

"There is also plenty of solid official MEGADETH information that can be found on us and about Gigantour that may not have been posted here yet, so please also check Megadeth.com, Myspace.com/megadeth, Gigantour.com, and Davemustaine.com (coming soon).

"Time for my morning coffee - I love you guys, and will see you soon!!!

"Aussie Aussie Aussie!"