On stage: W.A.S.P.

 
- W.A.S.P., DragonForce & Dyecrest
 
- May 2004
 
- Eindhoven (NL) -


 
- Bang-Your-Head
 
- June 2007
 
- Balingen (D) -


 
- W.A.S.P. & Bulletmonks
 
- Oct. 2009
 
- Bochum (D) -


 
- W.A.S.P. 
 
- Oct. 2009
 
- Odense (DK) -


 
- W.A.S.P. 
 
- Nov. 2009
 
- Milan (I) -

- W.A.S.P. - November 24th 2009 - Milan (I), Alcatraz -






 

  


  






  
  

W.A.S.P. are back in Milan after only one year, but with their new CD Babylon to promote!!!!! Personally this is the first time that I saw W.A.S.P. headlining a concert since 1992's Crimson Idol tour, so I was curious to see is doing Mr. Blackie better than at the very poor show that he offers to people 17 years ago...... And the correct answer is YES, he did!!!!

Without any support band, the show started with On Your Knees and The Real Me, and from the first guitar chord everyone knew that tonight it would be a great show!!! People and musicians become one thing, and also on the two songs taken from Babylon, first single Crazy and Babylon's Burning, people continue to sing along with the band!!!!!

Tonight all the classic stuff like I Wanna Be Somebody, Hellion, Wild Child were on the set list - with a couple of surprises in the encores: Like Heavens Hung In Black and Take Me Up where Blackie and his pals enchanted the people with an intensive performance!!!

Personally I hate the personal decision of Blackie Lawless about no longer playing Animal live, because of his personal believes. I prefer more respect for the people that pays to see and hear your greatest songs, but after this show I can forget also this.....

Long live Blackie, long live W.A.S.P. and long live rock'n'roll!!!!!
  
  







Umberto Mino


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- W.A.S.P. - October, 19th 2009 - Odense (DK), Posten -






 

  


  














  
  

A lovely evening with good music. Prior to the concert I met with Danish glam-rockers Nicki Trigger and Stacey Roxx from the new sleaze-glam band Britny Lace. They have new material that will be presented in February 2010. Wauww.

www.myspace.com/dkbritnylace

But tonight it was the performance of Danish very talented band Annoxia. They made a good solid 45-minute rock performance on the small secondary stage in Odense . . . . .  before their finishing words: welcome to the world champions.

Many years ago I noticed a charismatic singer who made splendid music videos, catchy tunes, gimmicks beyond admiration so you could only await what the hell the man was up to next. With the only concert in Denmark, of course attracting a crowd from East to West of Denmark, a light show & video show superbly programmed by light-engineer Taz, it was finally time for the main action. A man came onto the stage, flat white cowboy boots, a stomach, face creased with lines, black tights, black T-shirt with favorite Los Angeles Raiders No 75, chainsaws on the arms, 53 years of age. The crowd ancious to see him, Duda, Dupke and Blair.

Blackie Lawless couldn't silence the app. 300 in the crowd, but he ordered them: On Your Knees. Followed by L.O.V.E. Machine. The wildest eyes, and the wildest mouth of music was in brilliant form when he introduced The Real Me. They had a video show in the background showing W.A.S.P. highlights and war / terror situations (see more detailed description from Claudia's review of the concert in Bochum). From their new album came Babylon Burning. But apart from that the set was of pure classics: Wild Child, I Don't Need A Doctor, Murders In the New Morgue, The Idol, The Headless Children, Take Me Up, I Wanna Be Somebody.

The crowd tonight was only app. 300, but they enjoyed the performance very much. Indeed it is good to have Doug Blair in the band again, he makes some great guitar solos with Blackie. Everybody was also impressed with the background video-illustrations. Especially effective to accompany Murders In the New Morgue, where Chainsaw Charlie showed off. But most impact made the video composition for the extra song where the situation from The American Civil War was highlighted from Gettysburg in 1863 where 50,000 died in 3 days. President Abraham Lincoln described it: Heaven's Hung in Black.

The concert was ended with a highly sweating Blackie Lawless asking: "Do you know what I am? I'm Blind In Texas". Doug made a final monster guitar solo, and one thing is sure: No one could have been at a better place on this Monday evening.
  
  







Lars Björn


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- W.A.S.P. & Bulletmonks -
- October, 15th 2009 - Bochum (D), Zeche -






 

  


  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

W.A.S.P. are just releasing a new album called Babylon and are currently on tour in Europe. I tried to find out who will be the support, but didn't succeed until after their set. The German youngsters Bulletmonks were the opening band, but it seemed that nobody had a clue who the opening band was... I just saw part of their set and from what I saw they delivered some decent rock tunes...

After a lengthy change-over it was finally time for W.A.S.P.! A huge screen at the back of the stage indicated that they will use projections to support the songs... When the lights went down the crowd loudly welcomed Blackie Lawless and his band who kicked off with a medley of On Your Knees and The Real Me. After L.O.V.E. Machine they presented Babylon's Burning of their new album Babylon. At the opening tracks some footage of old videos been shown, now it was a different story... A mix of war scenes from Iraq were mixed up with images of Putin and news from Al Jazeera. Next in line a classic - Wild Child! Bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Doug Blair were always in action and did their best to entertain the fans. Bassist Mike Duda even took over some vocal parts. A highlight of the set was Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue) and the black&white images accompanying the song. But before they did this classic they did also another medley - Hellion / I Don't Need No Doctor / Scream Until You Like It. At the Crimson Idol track The Idol Doug Blair use a special guitar which had some LED lights in the body which looked from the distance like a illuminated church window... Looked cool! And the solo was cool too. While playing The Headless Children on the screen they showed images from WWII, Stalin, Mao, Lenin, a swastika as well as pictures of Khomeini and the different wars of the 20th century. Also a headline of L.A. Times about an attack on the US Embassy in Iraq. W.A.S.P. showed pictures of terror in it's many ways. Time to party again with Take Me Up, here Blair used another guitar with LEDs, then it was time for their classic I Wanna Be Somebody - and they showed the video they made for this tune many years ago. It was funny to see the old W.A.S.P. at the screen while the current line-up performed the song. After a guitar duel of Blair and Lawless it was time to let the audience sing... "It's time for some audience participation! I divide the audience in two - the left and the right!" Blackie Lawless announced and started the usual sing along action. After they finished that song they left the stage. The fans wanted more and screamed for awhile til Mr. Lawless and his pals returned for the balladesque rocker Heaven's Hung In Black off Dominator and Blind In Texas which always marks the end of the set.

The light show and the projects were amazing! The set list was quite similar to their last tour's set, but the fans didn't mind - it seemed... At a time where so many bands are on tour many struggle to draw enough fans, but W.A.S.P. have loyal fans and so the venue was packed. And I guess next time around everybody will be back to see the show!
  
  







Claudia Ehrhardt


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W.A.S.P., DragonForce & Dyecrest

- May, 12th 2004 - Eindhoven (NL), Effenaar -





 

  


  

Back to the Effenaar, this time for W.A.S.P. and their supports. By the way, thanks to Patrick Clerqc and his staff for their help! People were queuing at the entrance and so we entered the venue when the Finnish Dyecrest were already playing their first song. Actually when they finished it. They continued with Into The Void. For most of the watchers they are nobodies and so it took time to heat up the audience. The sextet presented songs from their debut album The Way Of Pain which offers dark power metal with some gothic influences. The band did a decent show, even if they need a little more routine. They also played Lost Faith, Last Man Standing and finally For All The Weak.

After a short break it was time for the British DragonForce. The fans call their music extreme power metal and on their latest release Sonic Firestorm they mainly present hyper-fast power metal. Usually fast tracks are short, but the band of guitarist Herman Li offers long - between 5 and almost 10 minute long - tracks including My Spirit Will Go On, Fury Of The Storm and Soldiers Of Wasteland - if I my memory don't fool me. The guitarists were always in motion and switched sides again and again. During instrumental parts they were doing guitar battles. Without singer ZP the band would have had to face a hard task, coz their extreme fast guitar-based power metal wasn't what most fans been up to, but they did well.

Then after a long break it was time for Blackie Lawless and his pales. They started with On Your Knees. This time Blackie came without a huge show, he only brought his swinging micro stand. Most of the set were classics like L.O.V.E. Machine, Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) and I Wanna Be Somebody which was the last one of the set. But the set also included 2 new tracks from The Neon God Pt. 1 - The Rise. During the old tunes the fans were singing along, went crazy and during the new ones - What I Never Find and Someone To Love Me - the fans stayed calm. But the album is just out and probably they haven't heard this songs yet. After I Wanna Be Somebody Blackie & co. left the stage. The fans shouted for more. And after almost 15 minutes they returned for a ballad - can't remember the title - and Blind In Texas. And then they were gone... At all they played just 65 minutes - excluding the break - which is not very much in comparison with other headliners which do up to 2 hrs and some play even longer. The Americans have enough songs to choose from and so I can't understand that they treat their fans this way. Here in Eindhoven the ticket cost only 15,- €, in Bochum, Germany the ticket cost 25,- € which is quite a difference. These days fans don't have so much money to spend and its ridiculous that a band like W.A.S.P. is playing just 65 minutes. Beside that the merchandise was high priced which isn't very fan-friendly. They should think about it again, if this is they way they want to do it, then sooner or later the fans won't come any more.

Resume: Dyecrest been quite good, DragonForce were okay and W.A.S.P. ... Well, they did a good job on stage, but much to short for a headliner.
  
  






Claudia Ehrhardt

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