Rush's Alex Lifeson and The Doors' Robby Krieger jamming on a Santana classic is guitar geek heaven

Lifeson and Krieger, Oct 24, 2022
(Image credit: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

Rush's Alex Lifeson and Doors legend Robby Krieger thrilled the audience at a recent charity concert in California by sharing a stage to jam on Santana classic Evil Ways.

The guitar legends were the star attractions at the Medlock-Krieger all-star benefit show on October 24 at Bogie's in Westlake Village, California. The event was staged was held in memory of artist Scott Medlock, who passed away in November 2021, aged 53, after a battle with cancer.

Medlock and Robby Krieger were firm friends, and the pair launched a charity concert and golf tournament in 2008, initially to benefit the Pat Tillman Foundation, an organisation that provides academic scholarships for veterans and their partners, and later to raise funds for the St. Jude Children's Hospital to treat childhood cancer and other diseases.

Tickets for the benefit were priced from $250 to $25,000, and over the past 14 years more than $3 million has been raised from the events.

Watch Krieger and Lifeson light up the room with their Santana jam, alongside vocalist Andy Vargas, below. The footage was shot and uploaded to YouTube by 'Heavy Metal Hill'.

Alex Lifeson has popped up at various events over the past months, joining lifelong friend and bandmate Geddy Lee at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts in London and Los Angeles, and performing alongside Primus at a South Park 25th anniversary shows in Denver, Colorado in August.

In July, Lifeson's new band Envy Of None released a limited edition split 7” single of Enemy/You'll Be Sorry with proceeds donated to UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) for their emergency response in the Ukraine.

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.