KIKO LOUREIRO Looks Back On His First Show With MEGADETH: 'That Concert Was Really Difficult, But It Was Fun'

MEGADETH guitarist Kiko Loureiro was recently interviewed by Loud Trax. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the very first concert he played as a member of MEGADETH, which took place in July 2015 at the Festival D'été De Québec (also known as by its acronym FEQ, or Quebec City Summer Festival in English),in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, Kiko said: "[There] was a very slippery stage, because it was raining. That was tough, man. That concert was really difficult, but it was fun. Because I finished recording [my tracks for MEGADETH's 'Dystopia' album], and then they said, 'Okay, we're gonna wait for the release of the album, so then we'll start touring, so don't worry about learning the old songs.' But then I got a phone call or an e-mail or something, 'Oh, we're gonna have a one-off, just this festival in Quebec,' so I had now to learn 20 songs. And I was on tour with my previous band, ANGRA, so I had to do tour stuff. So I had to learn all those songs in the airport or hotel rooms and stuff like that. And then we had three days of rehearsal. And Dave [Mustaine] and [David] Ellefson, they had been playing those songs for a lifetime. Me and Chris [Adler, who played drums on 'Dystopia'], [we were, like], 'Three days? Really?' And then, actually, the rehearsal was more about the equipment or everything about the production itself — not really playing for three days. So we didn't play the whole show [in rehearsal]; we didn't play the concert. We just played some songs, and Dave was kind of correcting me — some stuff I was playing differently than the album, and stuff like that, and then 70, 80, a hundred thousand people three days later, slippery stage… Yeah, it was tough, Quebec. So that was my debut. I will never forget it."

Asked if he tries to play the classic MEGADETH songs his own way or he if he makes an effort to stay true to the way the original guitar players recorded the tracks, Kiko said: "When it comes to the rhythm parts, I play with Dave [Mustaine], so I have to match the way he plays, which is really hard, because he has his unique way of playing the rhythms, the riffs. That was the toughest part, I have to say. But now, I'm playing way better — the rhythms and the riffs now. I'm learning with the master, so it's great for me. And the solos, I don't play much [along to the albums] — I just listen and I try to get the vibe of the solos of the song, and then I keep listening and listening, and then I get the instrument and then I try to play. I've been playing guitar for many, many years, so I think it's just a combination of the feeling that I get from the song and then the way I play."

Mustaine told Revolver magazine that finding Loureiro "was really a mind-blower. It was the first time since Marty Friedman joined the band that I was really intimidated as a player," he said. "He's such an amazing talent, and he's been coming in with all of these fresh ideas." Mustaine has also called Loureiro the "best guitarist we've ever had," adding that he was a good fit personality wise. "Chris [Broderick] and I had a good chemistry, but we weren't really as close as I would have wanted us to be," Mustaine explained. "Kiko, I feel like I've known him for years."

MEGADETH's 15th studio album, "Dystopia", was released in January 2016. A follow-up effort is tentatively due next year.