{"id":6942,"date":"2026-07-15T20:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6942"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:24:17","slug":"95-year-old-william-shatner-to-play-riot-fest-with-metal-backing-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6942","title":{"rendered":"95-Year-Old William Shatner to Play Riot Fest with Metal Backing Band"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/William-Shatner.jpg?quality=80\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-id=\"1611805\" data-title=\"95-Year-Old William Shatner to Play Riot Fest with Metal Backing Band\" data-url=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/07\/william-shatner-to-play-riot-fest\/\" data-page=\"1\" data-pages=\"1\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/tag\/william-shatner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">William Shatner<\/a> is going where no 95-year-old man has gone before. The legendary <em>Star Trek<\/em> actor is playing Chicago\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/05\/riot-fest-2026-lineup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Riot Fest<\/a> with a metal backing band.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always believed that music, like space, is about exploration,\u201d stated Shatner in a press release. \u201cRiot Fest is exactly the kind of place where anything can happen. We\u2019re bringing volume, intensity, and a few surprises. With this incredible band behind me, I expect nothing less than lift-off. I can\u2019t wait to share this experience with the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vivid-seats.pxf.io\/c\/1882189\/952533\/12730?subId1=riot-fest%2Ashatner-button&amp;subId2=&amp;subId3=&amp;sharedid=&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vividseats.com%2Friot-fest-tickets%2Fperformer%2F10651\" class=\"button button-ticket\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Get Riot Fest Tickets Here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shatner will be backed by members of the Nuclear Messiah metal collective, including guitarist and musical director Marcus Nand (Mike Tramp, Candice Night), bassist Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol), guitarist Britt Lightning (Vixen, Cactus), and drummer Fred Aching (Kings of Thrash, Dead Groove, Fraxures).<\/p>\n<p>Related Video<\/p>\n<p>The performance will come as Shatner continues to work on a <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/02\/william-shatner-metal-album\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">heavy metal album<\/a> for Cleopatra Records with a cast of all-star contributors. Among the songs announced for the LP are covers of Judas Priest classics <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/03\/william-shatner-rob-halford-judas-priest-classic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cYou\u2019ve Got Another Thing Comin&#8217;\u201d<\/a> (featuring Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford) and <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/06\/william-shatner-metal-project-live-stage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cLiving After Midnight\u201d<\/a> (featuring drummer Mikkey Dee of Mot\u00f6rhead and Scorpions).<\/p>\n<p>Brian Perera, founder of Cleopatra Records, remarked, \u201cWilliam Shatner has spent a lifetime redefining expectations. This isn\u2019t a novelty performance \u2014 it\u2019s a real rock show featuring world-class musicians behind one of entertainment\u2019s greatest icons. Riot Fest is the perfect stage for this next chapter, and we\u2019re going to deliver a performance worthy of the festival\u2019s incredible legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Riot Fest is set for September 18th-20th at Douglass Park in Chicago, with <a href=\"https:\/\/riotfest.org\/chicago\/tickets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">tickets available here<\/a>. Among the other acts set to play the three-day fest are Tool, Twenty One Pilots, Pierce the Veil, Alanis Morissette, Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Pixies, Elvis Costello &amp; The Imposters, and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n\t\tn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=1;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n\t\tdocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '1753966171496536');\n\t\tfbq('set','agent','tmgoogletagmanager', '1753966171496536');\n\t\tfbq('track', \"PageView\");\n\t<\/script><script defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v7.0&#038;appId=434175690014\" nonce=\"6gwmbCtM\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>William Shatner is going where no 95-year-old man has gone before. The legendary Star Trek actor is playing Chicago\u2019s Riot Fest with a metal backing band. \u201cI\u2019ve always believed that music, like space, is about exploration,\u201d stated Shatner in a press release. \u201cRiot Fest is exactly the kind of place where anything can happen. We\u2019re&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/William-Shatner.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}