Watch Slash and Tom Morello’s spicy guitar battle at Graspop Metal Meeting

Back in 2020, Tom Morello tapped Slash for Interstate 80, a solo-packed single on his Comandante EP. And its accompanying music video, fittingly, featured the two guitar titans’ Guitar Hero avatars locked in the throes of a no-holds-barred guitar duel. And now, they’ve brought that legendary showdown from the digital realm to real life, recreating the duel live.

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The duo took to the stage at Graspop Metal Meeting on Friday (June 16), to perform the track, and there was so much face-melting going on organisers really should have handed out welder’s helmets to the thousands in attendance.

Slash, who donned a black Gibson Les Paul custom, offered a series of his fiery tried-and-tested pentatonic runs, while Morello, armed with a sticker-emblazoned Fender Telecaster, put forth a selection of attitude-y – albeit hard-t0-hear – blues licks. Check out the performance below.

Commenting on Interstate 80’s music video upon its release in 2020, Slash described it as “the coolest and most original thing I’ve heard as an idea”.

“This is the first time that Slash and I have dueled on record,” Morello added. “But in the game Guitar Hero there were plenty of Morrell-ian, Slash-ian duels.” You can watch the track’s music video below:

In other Tom Morello news, Neural DSP recently announced the launch of Archetype: Tom Morello, a new plugin designed to allow guitarists to channel the Rage Against the Machine firebrand’s tone. As Neural explained, the plugin “precisely models” his amplifier and speaker cabinet setup, incorporating key processors that replicated his signature sounds.

“We have worked tirelessly to perfect the Archetype: Tom Morello plugin to make sure it sounds EXACTLY like my amp and set up,” says Morello in a press release.