During a live performance of "Anarchy in the U.K." at a 1988 show in Antrim, Northern Ireland, Mustaine drunkenly and confusedly dedicated the song to "the cause" of "giving Ireland back to the Irish!" Before the final song, Mustaine said, "This one's for the cause! Give Ireland back to the Irish!" This elicited a riot and fighting between Catholics and Protestants among the audience. The band had to travel in a bulletproof bus back to Dublin. Mustaine later said that he had been misled by T-shirt bootleggers about the meaning of the expression "the cause". This incident served as inspiration for the song "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due".