Megadeth Plans Acoustic Promo Tour

April 26 -- The words "Megadeth" and "acoustic" seem a bit incongruous next to each other, but that's exactly what will happen starting Saturday in Phoenix, when the heavy metal heroes begin a special 12-city promotional tour to launch their May 15 release, The World Needs a Hero, with a string of acoustic performances and meet-and-greet sessions with fans.

"Most of these people are pretty dumbfounded with the idea of Megadeth going acoustic," says frontman Dave Mustaine. "It's like satanic flamenco — happy satanic flamenco. Then, after we do a 40-minute set, we'll mingle with the crowd, sign autographs, all that stuff."

Mustaine says Megadeth started playing acoustically a couple of years ago in Japan, when it tried out an unplugged version of the song "Use the Man" from its 1997 release Cryptic Writings, which led to acoustic spots in some of its concert sets and to all-acoustic performances in Osaka, Buenos Aires, Philadelphia, Boston, and Madison, Wis.

"It's really hard to play acoustic," Mustaine says. "Acoustic is harder to play than electric, really; you can hide behind distortion when you're playing electric."

The promotional tour, Mustaine says, is designed to give "a little reciprocity for the [radio] stations that have been so good to us over the past years." Fans can only win tickets from participating radio stations, or, if they live outside of the broadcast area, they can enter for a chance to win tickets at www.megadeth.com.

The tour's itinerary includes:

April

April 28 — The Mason Jar, Phoenix, Ariz.April 29 — Brick By Brick, San Diego, Calif.April 30 — The Boardwalk, Sacramento, Calif.

MayMay 1 — House of Rock, Denver, Colo.May 3 — White Rabbit, San Antonio, TexasMay 4 — Hard Rock Cafe, Dallas, TexasMay 5 — The Quest, Minneapolis, Minn.May 6 — Shank Halla, Milwaukee, Wis.May 7 — Emerald Theater, Mt. Clemens, Mich.May 9 — Bill's Bara, Boston, Mass.May 10 — Fels Planetarium/Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pa.May 11 — State Theater, Tampa, Fla.May 12 — Sapphire Super Club, Orlando, Fla.