William Shatner’s new heavy metal band has just booked a big new gig.
The 95-year-old actor will perform at this year’s Riot Fest, a music festival announced Thursday.
“After years of letters…Riot Fest 2026: 100% More (William Shatner) this time with heavy metal band The Uckers,” the post reads, along with a photo of Shatner playfully sticking out his tongue and making a horn sign with his right hand.
The post notes that the 95-year-old is scheduled to perform with his band in Chicago’s Douglas Park on Sunday, September 20, and concludes, “We’ll be performing on Sunday. Tickets are on sale now.”
“I decided to debut my heavy metal record at Riot Fest because I knew you were my biggest fan,” Shatner said in an Instagram reel shared by the festival. “I hope you’re there – and I hope I’m there too.”
This show will be The *uckers’ first live performance. Page Six has reached out to the actor’s representative.
The Star Trek icon’s festival appearance follows John Stamos’ appearance with the Beach Boys at last year’s Riot Fest.
Following the announcement, Riot Fest shared about the actor’s outrageous rider, which included a request for him to “rename the boat” in his honor so he could “be the captain of a ship again,” “fire-breathers. There’s a lot,” “traditional Chicago food” be named after him, and his golf cart “replaced with a DeLorean.”
Other cheeky requests included “four feet of Polish sausage,” one pair of white tube socks and one pair of white underwear, and a dressing room theme of “Shatner’s Shag Shack.”
Fans on Instagram were also delighted with the announcement.
“Stamos in ’25, Shatner in ’26…Hollywood Vampires with Johnny Depp in ’27?” one person suggested in a comment thread, while another joked, “William and his team said they’d get a free three-day pass.”
A third exclaimed: “I’ve never been so excited about something I didn’t know existed 🤯,” while a fourth chimed in: “He’ll definitely be sitting with us.”
A fifth summed it up by saying: “This is what it’s all about.”
The news comes three months after Shatner publicly denounced a Facebook group that claimed he was dying of cancer, along with an AI image of him in the hospital.
“There’s a page on Facebook that’s using AI to create horrible fake news stories about me,” he wrote, blaming the “Beanstalk Feature Group” for creating “articles about me having stage 4 brain cancer, some kind of fight with Erica Kirk, and that I’m about to die.”
“All of their stories are monetized. Most of them use my AI images,” he continued in his April 2 post.
The former “Rescue 911” host claimed that Facebook “will not remove the page” despite requesting that the content be moved.
He also said he had contacted the group’s “CEO” through X and publicly requested its removal.
“None of these stories are true, but they seem real enough for fans to repost on social media and send messages of support to me and my family while the culprits behind the accounts are making money,” the actor wrote.
He concluded, “If you see a strange story about me, take it with a grain of salt, unless you see it posted to my verified account.”
Shatner is not the first actor to pivot to a music career this year, as record label Decca Classics announced last week that Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, 88, will release his album Life Is a Dream in August and begin his career as a classical music composer.
