You gotta love festivals. Lord knows a good portion of the acts do, as it is their chance to catch up with the rest of the music world and hang out and make new friends with some of the other acts on hand. And that's what appears to have happened at the Rock in Rio Festival this weekend as Post Malone was spotted catching Iron Maiden's set with some of metal's top players.

The moment wasn't lost on the musicians as the metal-loving pop and rap star posed for shots with Sons of Apollo's Mike Portnoy and Vio-Lence's Phil Demmel, who both were on hand for the weekend performing as part of the all-star metal collective Metal Allegiance.

Portnoy, repping with a Mr. Bungle T-Shirt, posed with Post Malone, captioning the shot on Instagram by stating, "This pic deserves its own post as it’s so cool, random and unexpected…pretty crazy to be in the artist pit at @rockinrio watching @ironmaiden and looking over my shoulder to see @postmalone rocking out next to me! I always figured he was a cool dude when I saw his knuckle tats paying tribute to misc dead rockers (Dimebag, Cobain, Lennon, Harrison, SRV, etc)."

Demmel, who has also been doing some fill-in work with Lamb of God on tour, also shared his surprise at catching Post Malone hanging out during the Maiden performance. Recapping his weekend, he wrote "Home and unpacked. It’ll be about 36 awake hours when I’m able to sleep later on. It was a whirlwind and I spent most of my time on my feet either rehearsing and jamming with @metalallegiance, or setting up my @neuraldsp quad cortex for some jams with my bro @mikeorlandomusic and all the Nocturnal dudes on the Rock District Stage, then over see Iron Maiden with Festival headliner @postmalone hanging right next to me. Then getting invited by @andreaskisser to jam Slayer/Pantera at the after hours party. This old man is SHOT! Tappin’ in at home so Marta and @bleedingthrough will go RAGE at the Blue Ridge Fest in a few days. Thank you @rockinrio and all the locals who helped me so much @leandrocarvalhoguitar worked so hard lugging my stuff with me for all 3 sets that night. Thank you so much!!!"

Iron Maiden did not disappoint, playing a 15-song set for the Rock in Rio crowd including encores of "The Trooper," "The Clansman," "Run to the Hills" and "Aces High." You can find Iron Maiden tickets here. As for Metal Allegiance, they played a 10-song set that including a show-opening performance of "The Accuser" in honor of the late Trevor Strnad.

Unlikely Rockstars Hanging Out Backstage

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