W.A.S.P. - London Review

Whilst London trips are pretty common for me, this past weekend I headed up to the capital for the first time since June. I have a few more trips to the city planned later in the year, naturally, but I have generally been spending more time elsewhere this year for whatever reason - but it is always good to get back to London for a show. The city contains some of the best venues in the country, and a variety of hotel options often makes a plan doable - even with prices generally rising across the board. The trip back in June contained a strong double bill of Savatage and Jerry Cantrell on consecutive days - but since then I have spent time in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, alongside a bit of a summer recess which tends to happen during the peak festival season. Gigging is back in a big way, though, and October and November are going to be busy - with last weekend's trip to Wolverhampton kicking off this period of busy gig-going, with a local show in Looe thrown in for good measure. The reason for this latest trip to London was a return to the Eventim Apollo for one of the biggest metal icons of the 1980s - with W.A.S.P. returning for their first tour for a couple of years. W.A.S.P. last toured in the UK in 2023, when I caught them playing an old-school set in Wolverhampton - which was a memorable night. It was my first time seeing them for a number of years - as they cancelled a Bristol show just before the doors were due to open in 2017 with no reason or even acknowledgement given - and a following tour fell victim of the pandemic. The 2023 tour felt like a big deal, then, but this current tour actually feels bigger. The reason for this is the fact that the setlist includes the band playing their 1984 self-titled debut album in full - something which they had not done before, meaning that a number of songs in the setlist had not been regularly played live since the early days. Whilst I like W.A.S.P. a lot, they are not always the best at shaking up the setlist - so playing an album in full essentially forces them to do so. The excitement around this setlist has put the band back in some bigger venues, too, and a quick look online suggests that this was the band's first performance at the Apollo since 1992. W.A.S.P. have played in London many times since, but with the sadly no-more Astoria, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, O2 Forum, and the Roundhouse largely being the venues of choice. Playing somewhere like the Apollo again was likely a risk for the band - but it seems to have paid off as the venue was full throughout the night. It was not as tightly packed as it sometimes is, but there was nevertheless a big crowd in attendance - showing that W.A.S.P. are still a big draw as a live act. The band's UK tour was a little shorter than they often are, though, which perhaps reflected the larger venues played. A handful of shows were played a couple of months ago around their headline appearance at Steelhouse Festival - whilst another three shows were added in around this past weekend. The London show was the last of the three, following successful nights in Newcastle and Manchester. It was with excitement, then, that I joined the long queue not long before the advertised door time - but it was a further half an hour before everyone was let in. Late openings not generally a good sign - and there were clearly delays in setting everything up which later impacted the support act's set.

It was clear when the night's support act, Armored Saint, took to the stage that they had not benefitted from a proper soundcheck. Clearly Phil Sandoval's (guitar) wireless system was not working, so a tech was running around with a cable as the band were taking the stage - and frontman John Bush had microphone issues throughout. I am quite a big Armored Saint fan, and last saw the band last year as part of a rare UK headline tour in Nottingham. The band were on fire that night, but the technical issues somewhat got in the way this time - even if they still delivered a strong performance across the nine songs played. Things seemed largely fine at first, even if Sandoval's guitar was essentially inaudible all set - with opener March of the Saint and the powerful newer cut End of the Attention Span powering through the Apollo even if only Jeff Duncan (guitar/vocals) was really driving them musically. There were clearly quite a few Armored Saint fans in attendance, so the band did not have to do much to whip up a bit of an atmosphere - and there was some singing during the band's more well-known tracks. Bush was clearly having issues with his wireless microphone, though, and decided to swap to the spare one after the second song. I am not sure what the issue was as he could be heard clearly, but he was not happy for whatever reason - but the spare microphone did not work at all. He ended up using Duncan's microphone for the next two songs, which created a strange atmosphere as he was stood to the side of the stage singing - whilst needing to get out of the way to allow Duncan to access his pedal board. During instrumental sections he went off to talk to the crew, but no-one seemed to be helping him. Someone tried something with a cable briefly - but it all ended up looking quite unprofessional and Bush was, rightly, frustrated with what was going on. In the end he just gave up and took Duncan's microphone out of its stand and proceeded to use it for the rest of the set - although he was limited as to were he could go with it because of the cable. The set picked up some pace again from this point, following a couple of more static numbers, with the big Left Hook from Right Field feeling fitting following the issues - whilst other more recent cuts like Standing on the Shoulders of Giants and Win Hands Down also impressed. The dual guitar solo sections felt strange, though, as Duncan's guitar was clear and Sandoval's was not. As such, when Sandoval soloed there was very little to be heard - and it is amazing that no-one seemed to want to fix this issue either. Armored Saint were let down a bit by the crew I think, which I do not like saying as crews keep shows on the road - but very little was seemingly being done to sort the very obvious issues, and clearly the band were having to pay for whatever delays had caused the doors to open late. The crowd were largely on board, though, and the big oldies which finished the set, Can U Deliver and Reign of Fire, attracted a strong reception - meaning that a troubled set ended on a high. The setlist was:

March of the Saint

End of the Attention Span

Long Before I Die

Last Train Home

Left Hook from Right Field

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Win Hands Down

Can U Deliver

Reign of Fire

Half an hour or so later, following Armored Saint's gear being cleared and Blackie Lawless' (vocals/guitar) huge microphone stand being screwed into place, the lights went down and a lengthy intro tape with a number of W.A.S.P. songs mashed together was played over the PA. W.A.S.P. have been using this intro tape for years, and the stage set with all of the circus-like banners was reused from the last tour, but the setlist was quite different - and when the band walked on and launched into I Wanna Be Somebody the place went wild. The song is not generally used as an opener, something which Lawless remarked upon later, but the big anthem worked well as such - with a short intro allowing the band to get going before Lawless started to sing. The main set consisted of the self-titled album played from start to finish. As such, this meant that two big hits were up first - with the aforementioned I Wanna Be Somebody and L.O.V.E. Machine setting an anthemic tone. Given that these two songs were up first, it took no time at all for the crowd to be on side. The singing during both of the tracks rang around the venue - with lots of fist pumping down at the front as Lawless prowled around the stage and snarled the vocals with his usual venom. The current line-up of W.A.S.P. has been around since 2017 now and are extremely tight. Drummer Aquiles Priester really nails that busy W.A.S.P. drum sound perfectly, his background in progressive metal allowing him to really lay into the tracks, whilst Doug Blair (guitar/vocals) really carried the show. Lawless plays rhythm guitar, but much of the main riffing and soloing comes from Blair - and the riffy debut album allowed him plenty of chances to shine. There were quite a few songs in the main set that I had not seen the band do live before - and others which I had only heard snippets of as part of medleys. The Flame was one of the latter, and it was great to hear the underrated anthem in full, but both B.A.D. and School Daze had not been in the set for years - with the latter in particular really impressing live. B.A.D. is probably the album's weakest track, but live it felt a little more powerful - before setlist regulars Hellion and On Your Knees came along later to showcase the true W.A.S.P. power. Sandwiched between the two, though, was the ballad Sleeping (in the Fire) - which allowed the band to slow things down somewhat, and it also acted as a solo spot for Blair. He closed out the song with a lengthy and melodic solo which the crowd really enjoyed. By this point the main set was nearly over, though, and it was left to the creepingly heavy Tormentor and the riffy The Torture Never Stops, both rarely played pieces, to close things out. Following a brief step off the stage, the band returned with a four-song encore - although the first two 'songs' were quite lengthy medleys containing some other classic hits. The first one was largely made up of Inside the Electric Circus and I Don't Need No Doctor, with a little bit of Scream Until You Like It thrown in - whilst the second was more sombre with The Real Me, ballad Forever Free, and the brooding The Headless Children, with plenty of WWII imagery on the screens, creating a darker atmosphere. Following that, it was left to two big anthems to close things out, with Wild Child and Blind in Texas bringing an old-school and powerful set to a bouncy end. The setlist was:

I Wanna Be Somebody

L.O.V.E. Machine

The Flame

B.A.D.

School Daze

Hellion

Sleeping (in the Fire)

On Your Knees

Tormentor

The Torture Never Stops

-

The Big Welcome

Inside the Electric Circus/I Don't Need No Doctor [Ray Charles cover]/Scream Until You Like It

The Real Me [The Who cover]/Forever Free/The Headless Children

Wild Child

Blind in Texas

Despite getting into the venue late and Armored Saint's set being compromised by technical issues, I still had a great night last night in London - on what happened to be my birthday. I always enjoy seeing W.A.S.P. live, and it was good that the setlist was shaken up a bit on this tour - so it was probably the best show by the band I had seen since their big anniversary tour in 2012. The setlist was great and the band sounded powerful - plus it was nice to see them pulling such large numbers in a classic old venue again. W.A.S.P. continue to be an enduring force on the metal scene - and hopefully they will continue to do their thing for years to come.