When Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth in 1983 – shortly after being fired from Metallica for his drinking and drug abuse – his manifesto was simple: "I wanted blood, theirs. I wanted to be faster and heavier than them." Three decades on, Mustaine has buried the hatchet with his former group and is a born-again Christian Republican. Bassist David Ellefson is the only other remaining member from the days when Megadeth were one of the "big four" pioneers of thrash metal (alongside Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax), but they are still greeted with a chant of "Mega! Deaf!"

They have slowed down over the years, but Megadeth still play with the brutality of an exploding planet. However, for all the fret-shredding riffola, classics from the Cryptic Writings and Rust in Peace albums produce a crowd singsong as effectively as anything in the Take That songbook.

Where Mustaine once blew recording budgets on hedonistic excess, now he splashes out on computer graphics for those moments when a song clearly needs an image of a giant eyeball. However, the real show is Mustaine himself, an unfeasibly long-locked 51-year-old able to wring guitar solos of stupendous virtuosity from his Flying V while simultaneously thrusting his crotch and engaging a roadie in deep and possibly religious conversation.

A clutch of songs from 1992's Countdown to Extinction album make vaguely anti-war noises while revelling in the imagery. In truth, the set leans a little too heavily on old glories, and the mere two songs from new album Super Collider disguise a recent shift into more straightforward hard rock. Still, something is making the former "most curmudgeonly rocker" very happy, and Mustaine makes an almost comical exit, to the sound of Sid Vicious's version of My Way, waving and blowing kisses to the crowd.

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