These are all in June at:

Sun. 12: Newcastle Academy

Tues. 14: Glasgow Garage

Wed. 15: Wolverhampton Slade Rooms

Thu. 16: Manchester Academy 2

Fri. 17: London Islington O2 Academy

The band features vocalists Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and Toby Jepson, guitarist Craig Goldy, bassist James Lomenzo (standing in for Rudy Sarzo, who has commitments with Blue Oyster Cult), keyboard player Scott Warren and drummer Simon Wright.

“First, I wanna say thank you to James Lomenzo for his years of faithful and consistent service to Megadeth and to me and to the fans.

“James, I love you, and I wish you well in everything that you do.

“Now, the most exciting thing I’ve had to say for quite some time…

“Like I said at our web site, I had a huge announcement to make… It’s David Ellefson returning back to his home, to his roots, to where his partner has been waiting to one day jam with him again, and that wait for me is now over.

“We rehearsed and it sounded great. Dave even played on the new track that we recorded for this new project that’s coming up — I’ll be making an announcement soon about what that is. And it just sounded great. He looked great.

“We did a photo shoot.

“We just had an absolutely wonderful time together, and we just knew it was right.

“I don’t know how long this is gonna last — I hope it’s permanent. If it’s just for the Rust In Peace tour I wanna thank David for committing to do this. And I wanna encourage all of you fans, go get your tickets now, because if you miss this, you may never see it again.

“I don’t know… you may be the kind of person that’s gonna be able to sit around when you’re 70 and say: ‘Yeah, well, I missed Megadeth twice with David Ellefson.’ That’s OK. I’m not that kind of person. But that’s what makes the world go around.

“I hope you take my lead today and you go and spend some time alone reflecting on people that you may need to forgive or that you may need their forgiveness, and see what happens, man.

“I feel so great, and I know so many of you feel great, too. And this is all because I was willing to take my hat in my hand and talk with my brother and to work things out.”

For further info, go to www.megadeth.com

“It literally happened over the weekend,” says the delighted bassist. “And I can hardly believe it myself. There was clearly gonna be a change in the line-up, because James Lomenzo was leaving. Dave (Mustaine) and I talked on the phone, and all the feuds, all the arguments we’ve been having over the years just melted away. It just goes to show what direct contact can achieve!”

According to Ellefson, it was drummer Shawn Drover who instigated the whole thing.

“If you ever need a guy in a band to watch your back, then this is the man. Obviously, I have no clue what happened within the band. But I got a text from Shawn and it just said: ‘If ever there was a time for you and Dave to talk, now is it.’ It’s one of those messages you act on immediately. Typically of Megadeth, things then happened big and fast.

“In all honesty, talking to Dave again was wonderful. It was the right thing at the right time, done in the right spirit.”

Ellefson rejoins the band in time for their March tour of America, where they will play the whole of the 1990 album Rust In Peace.

“I have one big advantage – I think I know those songs already! Seriously though, I was in New York with one of my other bands, Hail!, when I found out that Megadeth were doing this, and I did feel a little upset that I wasn’t at that point gonna be part of it. But, hey, now it’s all changed.

“So far, the reaction I’ve had from everyone has been overwhelmingly positive. I cannot wait to get back out there with Megadeth.”

Mustaine is reported as saying: “David Ellefson belongs in Megadeth. Next we are going to show you the power of getting your asses kicked… HARD!”

For further info, go to www.megadeth.com