Author: Aleš Podbrežnik, Jernej Vene
Location: Munich / Theaterfabrik / Germany
Concert date: 29.10.2015
Attendance: 700
Ticket price: €29.95
Well, I finally got to see them again. Blackie Lawless and W.A.S.P. are back on tour, six years after their last record. The current album Golgotha (2015) picks up right where its predecessor Babylon (2009) left off. Listeners get great sound and hard-hitting music. In my opinion, it’s a good thing for W.A.S.P. to be under the wing of the Austrian label Napam Records at the moment, since they’ve got dedicated people there who will promote the band really well. You can get Golgotha in various vinyl editions, on CD, and in a metal box set limited to just 1,500 copies. Obviously, the biggest fans will snap up every possible edition, which will soon turn them into rarities and proper collector’s items.
I last saw W.A.S.P. three years ago. The 30 Years Of Thunder tour was great, so I was curious to see whether Blackie would manage to lure the fans under his spell once more. Right before the tour started, drummer Mike Dupke left the band, but Randy Black (Primal Fear, Annihilator) proved to be a worthy successor.
One of the Munich halls in the Theaterfabrik complex was nicely packed, and the show kicked off right on time. As usual, W.A.S.P. opened with a medley of classics, On Your Knees and Inside The Electric Circus. The sound was powerful and loud. The band looked super tight despite the change of drummer. Blackie loves to play, and you can tell he’s having an absolute blast up there. He keeps moving around the stage nonstop, despite the leg injury he picked up a while back.
Next came a cover of The Who’s The Real Me, which bassist Mike Duda loves to play and never stops posing through. Guitarist Doug Blair didn’t stand still for a second either, thrilled by the crowd’s reaction. Then came the old classic Love Machine. The stage was flanked by video screens that let those further back see the musicians up close, and a few times they also played music videos on them.
Then it was time for the songs from Golgotha. The fans welcomed the hard-hitting Last Runaway with open arms, followed by Crazy, one of the better tracks off Babylon, which only cranked up the crowd’s excitement. Personally, I think that was the peak of the night. It’s always great to hear this song: the chorus is one everybody sings along to, it’s brilliantly built, and it’s exactly what a proper W.A.S.P. song should be.
The stage sank into darkness, and it was time for a trip back in time. The film The Crimson Idol played on the screens and out of the speakers, with the overture Titanic leading into Arena Of Pleasure, which was another highlight of the night. I’ll never forget the 2007 tour, when they played The Crimson Idol in full for the fifteenth anniversary of its release.
Anyway, back to the present. Next up was Miss You from Golgotha, which Blackie explained was written back in the days of The Crimson Idol. It describes Jonathon Steel, the hero of the Crimson Story, who lost his brother. Definitely the most moving moment and the high point of the show. The song is reminiscent of The Idol: slow, convincing, with a great chorus and a super solo from Doug Blair. I got goosebumps!
Blackie Lawless knows how to write a rock ballad. His unique voice shines even more in songs like this. After a short break we heard the intro to Thunderhead, which heralded the next medley: Hellion and I Don’t Need No Doctor. The first was one of the best from W.A.S.P.’s 1984 debut, while the second was first recorded by Ray Charles. Both kept the crowd in great spirits.
The end of the main set was drawing near. Blackie and his men said goodbye with the title track of the new album, Golgotha. Another rock ballad, in which Blackie’s voice was simply dreamy. We know Jesus was crucified on Golgotha, with two others crucified alongside him, and the song tells the story from the perspective of one of those two suffering men. It’s extremely emotional, graced by a royal guitar solo and a great chorus. Blackie has become extremely religious in recent years, and we know that lyrics like these used to be completely out of character for W.A.S.P.
With that, W.A.S.P. wrapped up their set. After a few minutes of waiting, they came back and hit us with the band’s anthem Wild Child. Anyone who knew the words was of course happily singing along. Blackie was still in great shape, and he even let slip a slight smile, triggered by the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction. In recent years the closing song was always Blind In Texas, but on this tour it was replaced by I Wanna Be Somebody, which is a great way to end a show.
The fans went wild again and, at Blackie’s urging, yelled at the top of their lungs. After eighty minutes the show was over, and Blackie proved once more that he has no plans to quit. The band is full of energy, the chemistry between the members is very good too, and you could tell Randy Black had settled into the group nicely. For me, as a huge fan, it’s always sad when a member leaves the lineup, so I hope the current one sticks around for a long time. A brilliant evening came to an end, and with it the wait for the next W.A.S.P. tour began.
photo & text: Daniel Arbaitstein
Setlist
W.A.S.P.:
1. On Your Knees / Inside the Electric Circus
2. The Real Me
3. L.O.V.E. Machine
4. Last Runaway
5. Crazy
6. Arena of Pleasure
7. Miss You
8. Hellion / I Don’t Need No Doctor
9. Golgotha
—encore—
10. Wild Child
11. I Wanna Be Somebody
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