William Shatner made his live heavy metal live debut over the weekend by covering four giants of the genre.
Shatner will release his first-ever heavy metal album later this year. He’s enlisted Brian May for the cause, as well as many other as-yet-unnamed metal icons.
The Star Trek actor first kicked off his metal adventure after he was gifted a guitar from Zakk Wylde. He has assembled an all-star cast for the record, and made his live debut in Chicago over the weekend.
William Shatner and the *uckers played a small warm-up show at Park West in the Windy City before an appearance at Riot Fest. The warm-up show was a more intensive, six-song showing, with covers of Ozzy Osbourne’s iconic Crazy Train, Motörhead’s thrash precursor, Ace of Spades, and Metallica’s mammoth hit, Enter Sandman.
He also played two original songs, Sky and One Fear – the latter about getting old. At Riot Fest, his setlist was made up entirely of covers. His version of Judas Priest’s The Rage was between his Ozzy and Motörhead covers.
Footage of that warm-up gig shows that, at 95, the Canadian is living his best life, with his trademark spoken-word approach to the vocals earning frequent roars from the crowd.
For his live band, Shatner has turned to Marcus Nand – who has worked with Mike Tramp and Ritchie Blackmore’s wife, Candice Night – as his guitarist and musical director. He’s formed a tandem with Britt Lightning (Vixen, Cactus), with Phil Soussan of Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Idol fame on bass, and Fred Aching (Kings of Thrash, Dead Groove, Fraxures) on drums.
“I’m so enlivened. I’m so filled with passion,” he tells Billboard. “I’ve come to understand what heavy metal is: It’s an energy that permeates your body and lifts you up. Heavy metal is the rhythm of life.
“I’m so excited about what I’m performing. It’s a real-life fervor happening for me.”
As anticipation builds for one of 2026’s most bizarre metal records, Chris Poland has spilled the beans on working with the veteran talent, and apparently he can speak in 3/4, which is pretty impressive.
