Canadian progressive metal royalty Voivod reunited with former bassist Jason Newsted, also of Metallica fame, when the band brought the bassist on stage to perform two songs on May 16 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Voivod with Newsted performed two songs, "Rebel Robot" and "Voivod."
Newsted joined Voivod in 2002 after leaving Metallica the year prior. He remained with the progressive metal outfit until 2008. Since then, he has performed live twice with Voivod: France's Hellfest in 2013 and San Francisco in 2016, making this the first appearance with Voivod in nearly seven years.
Recently, Newsted announced that he will revive his band Newsted to play a gig on May 20 in Fort Lauderdale. In a prior interview, he said the setlist will contain mostly newer songs fans have not heard before.
"I put together this kind of Motörhead-flavored thing about a year and a half ago and wrote these Motörhead-flavored songs on bass as the first instrument. I took the main three Philthy Animal drum beats and just picked that one and make a song and pick that one and make a song, and go around a couple of times and write that many songs. So I wrote some fun songs. And now we mix those in with 'Soldierhead' and 'Heroic Dose' and the ones from the videos that people know, but mostly playing new songs. And they are way less complex — way less complex than Flotsam and Jetsam, Metallica or even the [early stuff from] the Newsted band or Echobrain certainly. Just real punk rock, straight ahead like Motörhead — a lot of fast stuff, a lot of double bass. Most of them are pretty quick. It's just fun, though — fun as fuck."
