Park West, Chicago. September 19, 2026. Six songs. Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead, Metallica. The frontman: 95 years old and apparently unbothered by any of that. William Shatner walked onstage as the lead of The *uckers — backed by guitarists Marcus Nand and Britt Lightning, bassist Phil Soussan, and drummer Fred Achin — and played a Riot Fest aftershow like someone with unfinished business. The unspoken question before the first chord dropped: is this real, or is this a very elaborate bit?
Six Songs. Zero Apologies.
A mix of heavy-hitting cover songs and original material made clear this was a project, not a performance stunt.
A pure covers set is a tribute act. Originals mean something else entirely. According to setlist.fm, the night reportedly included:
- “Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne)
- “Ace of Spades” (Motörhead)
- “Enter Sandman” (Metallica)
- Originals: “Rage,” “Sky,” “One Fear,” and reportedly “damn old age”
(Setlist per setlist.fm; individual song titles unverified at press time.)
Shatner, speaking with Michael Moynihan ahead of the performances, framed the material as emotionally driven — not genre tourism. He admitted he didn’t arrive at this with deep metal knowledge. The man walked into heavy metal the way someone walks into an unfamiliar restaurant and orders everything on the menu: no prior context, full commitment, somehow confident it’ll land.
One track is reportedly a response song to Guns N’ Roses’ “Patience” — which is either the most Shatner thing imaginable or a genuinely interesting creative instinct. Probably both. “Writing books, making albums, planning a 30-minute heavy-metal concert” — that’s how he described the current creative burst, per the Moynihan interview. The forthcoming album titled What The FIs Heavy Metal?, is set for release via Cleopatra Records, with no confirmed date at time of reporting.
Riot Fest, Then What?
The Park West show was a deliberate warm-up — and a signed record deal suggests this story doesn’t end at the festival gates.
Park West was explicitly a warm-up. The main event followed on September 20 at Douglass Park — Shatner on the Riot Fest bill, full stop. The Cleopatra Records deal is the clearest signal this isn’t a weekend experiment. Labels don’t sign novelty projects without expecting product.
What does it mean when the oldest act on a metal festival bill also has an unreleased album in the pipeline? The album title is already doing most of the answering. Fans drawn in by the spectacle of a live debut at 95 may find the answer waiting on wax.
