What a 95-Year-Old Risks by Walking Onstage at All

A 95-year-old man walks onto a stage in Chicago with a band called The *uckers, and the first thing you have to decide is whether to be a jerk about it.I thought about it. Cynicism is cheap, and I've got a drawer full. A Star Trek captain, a famous old man, a metal record stuffed with guest stars, a label that knows how to package nostalgia. It reads like a pitch deck that got loose. Then I read what happened, and I put the drawer away.The Night in ChicagoPer AXS TV, Shatner played his first live heavy metal show on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at a Riot Fest aftershow at Park West, backed by his newly assembled band. Riot Fest had billed him for Douglass Park the next day, and the Chicago Sun-Times covered his set there on the festival's final day, in the same write-up as Patti Smith. The six-song setlist, per Vice, LouderSound and mxdwn, paired covers of Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Motörhead with three originals from the upcoming album. Ahead of the shows, Shatner posted a line on…