Calling themselves “The Wedding Band”, Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo decided to gather up some friends and play a “covers-only” night at Cosmo Music in Toronto, rounded out by Ugly Kid Joe frontman Whitfield Crane, Queens of the Stone Age drummer Joey Castillo and guitarist Dallas “Doc” Coyle (Bad Wolves).
Unbarred, with only one exception, no songs from their respective ‘full-time’ bands, the band impromptu-planned to hit the audience with a wide range of familiar (and possibly a few surprises) and not-so-familiar covers.
With a small intimate audience of only approximately 200, the band appropriately opened with Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”.
With Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo participating, a little funky bass was in order, with the band turning up the funk with black-exploitation classic, Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead”, Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” and Chics “Le Freak”.
Classic influential heavy metal was represented with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” & “War Pigs”; Judas Priest’s “Green Manalishi” & “Breaking The Law”; and Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades”.
The evening coincided with the recent opening of Hammet’s It’s Alive!, an exhibition of pieces from Hammett’s famed collection of art from vintage horror and science fiction films that is running at the Royal Ontario Museum through Jan. 5, 2020. The items on display cover nearly 60 years of posters, from 1921’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari up through Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic Alien.
Of course, you can’t have a-rockin’ party without a little AC/DC, “Highway to Hell” and “Live Wire”, tossed in with a little punk, The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”.
Finally, the night was finished off with encore fun, Halloween 60’s closer Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash”
You may now kiss the Bridzilla of Frankenstein …
Setlist:
White Wedding (Billy Idol)
Highway To Hell (AC/DC)
Jungle Boogie (Kool & The Gang)
Breaking The Law (Judas Priest)
Freddie’s Dead (Curtis Mayfield, Superfly Soundtrack)
Iron Man (Black Sabbath)
Green Manalishi (Judas Priest)
Le Freak (Chic)
War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Live Wire (AC/DC)
Ace of Spades (Motörhead)
Blitzkrieg Bop (The Ramones)
Encore:
Monster Mash (Bobby “Boris” Pickett)
