Eleven-year-old viral guitar sensation Maya Neelakantan joined Testament onstage during the band’s show in Las Vegas on Friday (September 13th).
Fresh off her widely seen America’s Got Talent quarterfinals appearance, Maya was invited onstage by the Bay Area thrash vets for a rendition of “Curse of the Legions of Death (C.O.T.L.O.D.)” from the seminal album The Legacy.
Guitarist Alex Skolnick and frontman Chuck Billy handled the introductions, revealing that this would be Maya’s first time playing live at an actual heavy metal show — not exactly the same crowd as the AGT studio audience.
“So let’s show her some love!” shouted Billy toward the crowd, which roared in support.
Incredibly, Maya seamlessly fell in with Skolnick and rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson as if she was a third guitar player in the band. Around the two-minute mark, Slolnick pointed toward Maya, signaling for her to take the first solo in the song from the centerstage spotlight. She wore her trademark beaming smile all the while.
Neelakantan took to Instagram following the performance to thank Testament and share a family photo with the band:
“Just played with Testament on stage now!!! It was incredible playing with all of them, playing to a metalhead crowd for the first time and meeting Eric Peterson, Alex Skolnick, Chuck Billy, Chris Dovas, Steve DiGiorgio and the amazing Testament crew too. It was all such an incredible experience and I loved hanging with the band as well as jamming with them on stage!!!! So unforgettable! Thank you so much Testament for giving the amazing opportunity and for always being so kind and supportive to me right from the beginning!!!!”
Maya recently made headlines after ripping through a performance of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” during the quarterfinals of America’s Got Talent. Despite an overwhelmingly positive response from the judges and YouTube commenters, Maya was voted out in favor of arguably lesser talent, though it looks like the AGT exposure is already paying off.
Meanwhile, Testament just launched their co-headlining North American tour with Kreator that runs through the end of October. A Monday (September 16th) gig in Seattle is next on the itinerary (get tickets here).
Below you can watch audience footage of Maya Neelakantan playing with Testament onstage in Las Vegas.