Concert Reviews
W.A.S.P Pittsburgh: Photos and Review
WASP’s 40th Anniversary World Tour 2022 – Pittsburgh PA
By Josh Drespling with additional photos by Ron S.
The winged assassins, W.A.S.P. made their way to the blue collar town of Greensburg Pennsylvania which sits just outside of Pittsburgh. For one night only they took up residence in the over one hundred year old majestic Palace Theater.
What was dubbed “The 40th Anniversary World Tour” saw the band set foot in the United States for the first time in over a decade. There were rumors that front man and W.A.S.P. mastermind, Blackie Lawless swore to never tour in the US again due to the logistics and financial ramifications. He spun the new tour, touting the influence of the fans and their action to make promoters realize that bringing W.A.S.P. to any given town was a viable decision.
In reference to the world tour that kicked off in Milan, Italy on March18th of this year, Blackie had this to say “For the W.A.S.P. 40th Anniversary World Tour we’re going back to the beginning. We’re taking the show back to where it all started. Complete with all the fire and all the blood that shocked the world the first time. We only did this type of show on the first world tour and never did it again…until now! I’m gonna scream and I’m gonna bleed, cause I wanna be somebody! We’re taking everybody back…back to the beginning!”
For the sold out show in Greensburg, Armored Saint held down the opening slot duties with their signature brand of metal. Despite vocalist John Bush being under the weather they plowed through a set that spanned their entire career including the track “Chemical Euphoria” from their 1987 release Raising Fear along with “Can U Deliver” from the band’s first full length, 1984’s March of Saints. The band also performed “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” from their mid-pandemic release, Punching the Sky.
WASP proudly took to the stage following an intro comprised of small clips of some of the band’s most memorable numbers mashed together into a whirlwind of chaotic sound. Blackie Lawless was clad in a black WASP t-shirt with added arm coverings, paired with his signature white leather fringed boots and knee pads. The balance of the band: bassist Mike Duda, guitarist Doug Blair, and drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester preceded Blackie on the stage. With his fist raised triumphantly in the air he pointed to the sky as the band broke into the opening riff of “On Your Knees” from W.A.S.P.’s 1984 self-titled debut album.
Every voice in the theater shouted along to every single word of a medley of the classics “On Your Knees”, “The Flame”, “The Torture Never Stops” and “Inside the Electric Circus”. The voices in the crow overpowered much of the vocals coming from the stage. Despite the thousand back-up singers, Blackie’s voice cut through the mayhem and his signature gravely voice sounded better than I could ever imagined. In fact, I might suggest that some of these other aging rock stars embrace whatever vocal exercises Blackie has been performing. We will gloss over the moment that bassist Mike Dude took a step backward and tripped over a wire, his own feet, or a shadow and landed on his rear-end. Guitarist Doug Blair was quick to the rescue and lent him a hand up as they both laughed off the comical incident in an otherwise “serious” rock show.
Without missing a beat W.A.S.P. pummeled the audience with another crowd pleasing number in the iconic classic “L.O.V.E. Machine” also from their debut release as the MTV era music video played on large screens behind the band. Moving ahead to “Wild Child, the lead track from 1985’s The Last Command. The band also performed amid the music video projected on the screens making up part of their backdrop.
Once the crowd had been properly whipped into a frenzy, Blackie announced that “In addition to it being the 40th anniversary of the band, it is also the 30th anniversary of The Crimson Idol album. We are going do do a few songs from that album right now.” They began with “The Idol”, who’s lush and extended guitar solo exhibited what an amazing guitar player Doug Blair is. He mesmerized the entire crowd with his playing of the nearly four-minute solo. Falling is order were “The Great Misconceptions of Me” and “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)” which saw the band bathed in bans of blue light and atmospheric smoke.
Breaking the more subdued tone of the Crimson Idol section of the set was the iconic drinking anthem “Blind in Texas” which once again had the entire venue singing along to every word before the band exited the stage.
After a brief pause Blackie and his fellow musicians returned to the stage and preformed the controversial and cartoon-like “Animal” one of the most famous W.A.S.P. songs, but without a doubt one of the most lack luster selections in the band’s expansive catalog. This was a shortened version on the song they transformed into “The Real Me”, The Who cover song from the bands most underrated release The Headless Children.
At this point Blackie stepped up to Elvis, his mic-stand monument made of a cold steel spinal column topped with a skull and crossbones and two arms with human skeleton hands holding what appear to be motorcycle handlebars. He proceed to profess how thankful he was for the fans and explained how promoters did not believe that WASP could still sell tickets. He said that “Tonight is sold out, last night was sold out, and many more of the dates on this tour are sold out.” He continued “It is all because of you the fans. You guys got on social media. It was not hundreds of you, but thousands of you and I’m grateful for that” With that he shouted “I WANNA BE SOMEBODY!” as the band broke into the signature song of the same name. While the band played photos and the names on every past and present member of WASP were projected on the screens behind them along with a list of thank yous of people who helped make WASP “somebody”.
As the song wound down, Blackie climbed on top of “Elvis” and threw his hands up, shouting “We Love You. Thank you!” He stepped down and spoke into he mic; saying “Good night. We will see you next time.” Thus lighting the flame of hope for them returning for another tour.
Few bands in history have generate such a catalog of rebellious sing-a-long anthems and managed to mature into a band that produced epic concept albums and straight ahead rockers that have moved multiple generations of fans. Despite the loss of several key members over the years (Chris Holmes, Randy Piper, the late Frankie Banali, and Johnny Rod) Blackie has been able to steer the freight train that is WASP towards musical perfection time and time again.
The 40th Anniversary World Tour will soon be winding down, but hopefully due to the success of this leg of the tour they will consider scheduling more dates in the US and abroad. If you have the opportunity I encourage you to catch the show, it is undoubtedly a memorable one.
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Concert Reviews
King Diamond brought the Halloween party to Silver Spring MD
King Diamond who’s on tour now with Overkill and Night Demon.
Overkill always puts on a great show and shows that face pace thrash metal is still kick ass. Led by NJ’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth Overkill has that distinctive sound with Bobby’s high pitched and raspy vocals. With songs like “Scorched”, “ Rotten to the Core” and “Hello From the Gutter”, Overkill got the crowd into a frenzy and warmed up the stage before the king.
You know it’s gonna be a good night when it’s 3 days before Halloween and you get to see a kick ass set from King Diamond. King Diamond who’s 68 right now still commands that stage and sounds amazing with his insanely falsettos. The stage show at a King Diamond show is always such a great sight to see. With a multilayer setup of stairs and little pieces of elaborate set all over it’s such a great view and perfect setting to watch a King Diamond set.
The set list was amazing too we got to hear songs from such a great career like “A Mansion in the Darkness”, “Halloween “, “Spider Lilly”, “Welcome Home”, and “Eye of the Witch” and of course ending the night with “Abagail”.
If you’re a fan of King Diamond or just a fan of great music that adds that Halloween haunted asylum themed stage performances then you need to go out and check this tour now. King Diamond never disappoints and always puts on one hell of a show.
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ITS TIME TO GET YOUR BODY BEAT AND LET THE BLOOD FLOW
Combichrist came into Lovedrafts in Mechanicsburg with an old school electronic set and the return of PA’s own DeathMaschine.
Combichrist took the dark stage armed with Eric on the synths/sampler and Andy on Vocals and an open stage to rampage on. I got to hear some killer kick ass songs I haven’t heard in a while like “Today I woke to the rain of blood”, “This is My Rifle” and This shit will fuck you up”.
The crowd were super excited to watch the set and everyone was having a good time, dancing to the beats, and singing all the songs and having an amazing time. I’ve been wanting to see Combichrist do these old school sets and have always loved that era of the band. We also got to hear “Like to Thank My Buddies” and “Shut up and Swallow”. We also got a super rare treat for an encore Andy went back even further in his musically roots and pulled out an Icon of Coil song “Dead Enough For Life”, which got the crowd in a frenzy.
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LUDACRIS : THE HALL AT LIVE
ATL IS IN THE HOUSE.
Ludacris came into Maryland at the Hall in Live Casino and brought with him the masses that were ready for a good time, good fun and good tunes.
Ludacris said it’s been a long time since he’s been back to Maryland and DC area. I loved that he just came out with his dj and his hype man and himself nothing else was needed when you entertain like Ludacris does. Whether you’re a fan from back in the day or a fan of his movies, Ludacris made everyone happy and made sure they were fully entertained.
Of course Ludacris played some of his hits songs like “Act a Fool”, “Move Bitch”, “What’s your fantasy”, “Get Back” and “Area Codes” but he also played some old school tracks and a few covers like “Holiday Inn” and “Yeah”. The crowd was hitting that good weed as well and threw some blunts up to the stage during “BlueBerry Yum Yum”.
Ludacris made a statement that his first album came out in 2000 and this next year is the 25th anniversary of the album. It was a great night and a great time, Ludacris knows how to keep the fans engaged and entertained all night. He’s very fan friendly and charismatic which makes sense that he’s also a great actor.
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