Fan-shot footage of Overkill’s full June 4 set at the 2026 Mystic Festival in Gdańsk, Poland is available below, originally uploaded by “MrTime2Travel” on YouTube.
Similar to their recent “Thrash Of The Titans” U.S. run alongside Testament and Destruction earlier this spring, Overkill are once again hitting the stage as a four-piece. The current lineup features Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth on vocals, Christian Olde Wolbers (ex-Fear Factory) on bass, Jeramie Kling on drums, and Dave Linsk on guitar. Meanwhile, longtime guitarist Derek Tailer is absent from the ongoing tour for undisclosed reasons.
He previously filled in for D.D. Verni during the band’s fall 2024 North American tour supporting King Diamond, after D.D. Verni stepped aside due to what was described as an ongoing shoulder issue.
Verni’s recovery has led to several temporary lineup adjustments over the past two years. For select European shows in September 2024, Overkill recruited former Kreator bassist Christian Giesler. Earlier that year, Verni also sat out the band’s April 2024 Latin American tour while recovering from shoulder surgery, with former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson handling bass duties on that run.
Speaking recently with Drew Stone on “The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!“, Verni explained why he was sitting out the “Thrash Of The Titans” U.S. trek. He cited the need to recover from a recent shoulder surgery as the primary reason for his absence.
“Ah, well, there’s a few different reasons for that, but I would say probably the main one at this point is that I just need to kind of rest this arm some. And we’re just support on this [tour]. This isn’t our tour; this is a Testament tour. We’re just kind of tagging along. I had another surgery done a little while ago, and just at this point, for something like this, I’m, like, ‘All right, maybe it’s best I just sit this one out.’ So our friend Christian [Olde Wolbers, ex-Fear Factory] is filling in. And it’s just rolling on,” he said at the time.
“I had the surgery once, I did all the P.T. [physical therapy]. They told me I was good. I went out on the road, and I completely ripped it off again. And I came back and I had to do it all over again. [I had] rotator cuff and a bicep tear — on both shoulders. It’s just old-guy s**t. But now if I blow it off again, if it tears off again, it’s shoulder replacement, and I’m really trying to avoid that. But you know what’s f**ked up, though? It’s only playing bass. I can’t play sitting down anymore at all. I can play standing up, but if I sit with my arm kind of locked like that, I can’t play it. I can’t even get through a single song. But I can on a guitar. I don’t know. It’s something about the way I hold the pick and the amount [of weight and pressure] I’m putting on a specific spot. But that’s the way it goes right now. I gotta get strong and get it back to place so I don’t have to f**king worry about that s**t anymore.”
Despite his physical setbacks, D.D. Verni assured fans that his role in Overkill remains unchanged and that he is deep into the writing process for the legendary thrash metal group’s next record.
“Oh, yeah. I’m writing right now. I have most of the new Overkill record done, demoed up, for the most part ready to go. I just did a couple of new things yesterday. I thought it was ready to go. Then I had a couple other things that I wanted to add. So, for the most part it’s all done. I gave it to Blitz [Overkill singer Bobby Ellsworth], I guess, a while ago, and he’s been noodling around with it. So over the next — I don’t know — six months or so, probably we’ll jump in the studio somewhere along the way. And I would think we’re probably looking at a release early next year, February, March, something like that. We got a couple of calls about some tours and some things then. So we’ll see.”
Overkill Setlist June 4, 2026 Mystic Festival (according to Setlist.fm):
- “Scorched“
- “Rotten to the Core“
- “Bring Me the Night“
- “Hello From the Gutter“
- “Deny the Cross“
- “Electric Rattlesnake“
- “The Surgeon“
- “Ironbound“
- “Elimination“
- “F**k You” (The Subhumans cover)
“Scorching the Earth World Tour” remaning dates:
- July 10 – Zurbarán rock – Burgos, Spain
- July 11 – RVbang open air festival – Balingen, Germany
- July 12 – Modrà vopice – Prague, Czech republic
- July 14 – LA live style cafe and eventhall – Cham, Germany
- July 16 – Z-Bau – Nürnberg, Germany
- July 17 – SO36 – Berlin, Germany
- July 18 – Dong open air – Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany
- July 19 – Luppolo in rock – Cremona, Italy
- Aug 14 – Rock the lakes festival – Cudrefin , Switzerland
- Aug 15 – Dynamo – Eindhoven, Netherlands
