William Shatner has made his heavy metal live debut, performing covers of Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Motörhead – watch below.
The 95-year-old Star Trek legend played a warm-up show at Chicago’s Park West last night (September 19) with his newly-formed metal band The *uckers, playing a six-song set ahead of his appearance at Riot Fest today (September 20).
The performance saw Shatner and the group tackle Osbourne’s ‘Crazy Train’, Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ and Motörhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’, alongside three original songs from his forthcoming metal album ‘What The F Is Heavy Metal?’.
Check out fan-captured footage of the performance below.
Shatner had teased the unlikely new chapter in his musical career ahead of the performance, writing on social media: “I have explored space. I have explored time. Now … I explore distortion.”
The *uckers consist of guitarist and musical director Marcus Nand, Vixen guitarist Britt Lightning, bassist Phil Soussan – who previously played with Osbourne – and drummer Fred Aching.
Last night’s appearance served as a warm-up for their performance at Riot Fest in Chicago’s Douglass Park today, with Shatner and band scheduled to play a 40-minute slot.
Earlier in the summer, Shatner revealed a suitably extravagant list of rider demands for his Riot Fest performance, including “many” fire-breathers, a DeLorean to transport him to the stage, four feet of Polish sausage and an assortment of adoptable puppies.
The rider also requested an introductory film made by GWAR, eight pallets of Faygo and a Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey signed by John Stamos.
The forthcoming record is also set to feature an array of prominent metal and rock guests, including Queen’s Brian May, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, Disturbed bassist John Moyer and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo.
The actor has also indicated that The *uckers’ live career could continue beyond Riot Fest. Last month, Shatner appeared to accidentally reveal that the band had been booked for Coachella 2027.
He told CNN that they were due to perform a 30-minute set at “the one in the desert” next spring, with his daughter Melanie Shatner Gretsch confirming that he meant Coachella. The festival has yet to officially confirm Shatner as part of its 2027 line-up.
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