The California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles will host Megadeth live in concert Monday, July 20 at 7:30 PM at the 2026 CA Mid-State Fair, with special guest Exodus, as part of the Michelob Ultra Concert Series in the Chumash Grandstand Arena.
Tickets go on sale Friday, March 27 at 10:00 AM and are priced at $50, $60, $80, and $90 (pit). Fair admission is sold separately. Tickets will be available at MidStateFair.com and Ticketmaster.com.
MEGADETH—Dave Mustaine (vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and producer), Teemu Mäntysaari (Lead, Rhythm, and Acoustic Guitars), James LoMenzo (Bass Guitar) and Dirk Verbeuren (Drums)—are always and forever the point of no return for metal. It would be nearly impossible to conceive where heavy music and culture would’ve gone without the band founded, fronted, and fueled by vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and producer Dave Mustaine. The blast radius of their impact has only magnified since 1983. Thus far, they have sold 50 million records worldwide, received a GRAMMY® Award (with 12 additional nominations), generated billions of streams, notched nine Top 10 entries on the Billboard 200, and enthralled millions of diehard fans in arenas and stadiums across the globe.
Their catalog spans indisputable classics such as the platinum Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? (cited at #8 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time”), the platinum Rust In Peace, and double-platinum Countdown To Extinction, which captured #2 on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, Dystopia notched a Top 3 debut and earned a GRAMMY® Award in the category of “Best Metal Performance” with its title track. They only upped the ferocity with The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! in 2022. It saw them return to #3, receive a “Best Metal Performance” GRAMMY® Award nomination for “We’ll Be Back,” and incite rave reviews.
Their influence can be felt practically everywhere—whether it be Post Malone proudly sporting a tattoo of “So Far, So Good… So What!,” Homer Simpson’s iPod displaying their moniker during an episode, or Showtime’s smash hit series Billions and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey utilizing MEGADETH in plot points. The band have delivered simultaneously relevant and timeless records in five decades now, setting the pace for the thrash renaissance of the eighties, tearing through the MTV years of the nineties with swagger and style, maintaining their stride in the post-Y2K 2000s, elevating to canonical heights in the social media and streaming era of the 2010s, and unassumingly harnessing the uncertainty and unease of the Post-Pandemic world into their boldest, biggest, and best work yet.
In 2026, Dave Mustaine is seeing the biggest success of his 40-plus-year career with MEGADETH’s final studio album and tour. Committed to going out on top, MEGADETH’s new album (released in January 2026) debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., marking the band’s highest debut week ever on the chart. Around the world, the album
garnered critical acclaim and hit #1 in 11 countries and landed Top 5 positions on 11 additional charts.
Opening the evening is Bay Area thrash legends Exodus, who have spent more than 40 years at the forefront of thrash metal, earning their place as undisputed legends of the genre. From the eruption of their 1985 debut Bonded By Blood to the skull-smashing extremity of their modern releases, the band remains a benchmark for thrash brutality and commitment to the heavy metal cause. Nine albums and more than four decades later, Exodus remain one of thrash metal’s most devastating live bands.
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