For the past decade, iconic W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless spent most of his touring adventures in nations other than the good ol’ U.S.A. You’d have to go back even further since W.A.S.P. was last in the Alamo City.
Blind in Texas, indeed.
As such, local promoters Din Productions have been attempting to bring one of metal’s most don’t-give-a-bleep bands back to San Antonio the past eight years. That finally came to fruition last Friday night at Tech Port Center + Arena as W.A.S.P. headlined its 40th anniversary tour with Michael Schenker (celebrating his 50th year) and openers Armored Saint, who have also been around for four decades.
The rare appearance brought out South Texas metal royalty in the form of Dangerous Toys singer Jason McMaster — fresh off a stint filling in for Accept vocalist Mark Tornillo — Fates Warning and George Strait drummer Bobby Jarzombek and Riot bassist Don Van Stavern, along with musicians from local bands Jessikill, Even In Death and X.I.L. to name a few.
What they saw was a set comprised of W.A.S.P.’s good ol’ days. What they heard, but may not have immediately recognized, was a Lawless who shunned some of his most angst-ridden lyrics for PG-rated versions no one would have expected.
Lawless had billed the tour as going “back to the beginning” with an emphasis on the first few albums. He reportedly had also stated the stage would represent a carnival-like atmosphere.
Taking the platform at 9:51 p.m., the 76-minute performance that ended at 11:07 p.m. comprised nearly half of the 1984 self-titled debut album while most of the remainder spotlighted the 30th anniversary of fifth record The Crimson Idol.
Perched behind his mammoth and menacing skull-adorned mic stand, Lawless was joined by guitarist Doug Blair, bassist Mike Duda and drummer Aquiles Priester. W.A.S.P. took to the stage with a medley of first-album tracks starting with “On Your Knees.” The next two snippets in particular, “The Flame” and “The Torture Never Stops,” sounded eerily like the album versions of Lawless’ 1984 voice — at least while being witnessed from the photo pit in front of the stage. Even if that was the case, “The Flame” deserved a full-length performance not only for being one of the best tunes in W.A.S.P.’s arsenal but a track that’s rarely played live and doesn’t appear on either of the group’s live albums.
Lawless and Co. ended the medley with a portion of the title track to 1986’s Inside the Electric Circus. The carnival banners, one of which was titled “Arena of Pleasure,” would’ve led one to believe that most of the ‘86 album and/or the latter 1992 track would be played. But that was a smokescreen.
For Lawless, limiting some tracks to a medley is a good problem to have. W.A.S.P. has so many signature songs (no, they’re not going to be referred to as “hits” within this space), it’s impossible to leave dedicated fans who own every single album completely satisfied unless the band performed for three hours.
Given the decade-plus absence, three hours wouldn’t have been too much to ask for.
On the stage’s printed setlist (see 21-photo gallery below), Lawless scratched off previously played-in-Texas tracks “Crazy” and “Heaven’s Hung In Black” — from 2009 and 2007, respectively — along with a half-and-half of “Hellion” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” He made up for the pleasant surprises those would’ve been by inserting the 9 1/2-minute “The Great Misconceptions of Me,” although the timing was a bit off and the band didn’t appear in sync at the start of it.
But even more than the medley’s pros and cons, two other aspects of the night were the most glaring:
1) Lawless never addressed the crowd other than his customary, “All I need is my L.O.V.E. Machine” intro and at show’s conclusion with “Good night, San Antonio! We’ll see you next time” before he and the band abruptly left the stage. It was as if he had turned into Alice Cooper, playing a character rather than being a human who engages his audience. But even Cooper becomes human at the end of his gigs and fully introduces his band during a jam session after his theatrics have completed.
2) Lawless stunningly inserted cleaner lyrics during “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue),” shunning the 1992 album version and demonstrating that he apparently no longer cusses, at least in concert.
When you’re listening to The Crimson Idol and hear Lawless bellow, “I’m a cocksucking asshole, that’s what they call me,” you can’t help but headbang and go bonkers while flipping a middle finger or two to Tipper Gore as if you were taking part in that mid-’80s PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) hearing. However, not only did Lawless not utter those words true to his original lyrics, he changed them to omit the curse words.
Album version:
I’m the president of showbiz, my name is Charlie
I’m a cocksucking asshole! That’s what they call me
Here from my Hollywood tower I rule
I’m a lying motherfucker
The chainsaw’s my tool
Friday’s live version:
I’m the president of showbiz, my name is Charlie
I’m a bloodsucking rat’s hole (or rascal)
That’s what they call me
Here from my Hollywood tower I rule
I’m a lying little monster
The chainsaw’s my tool
Lawless also changed “Don’t mind the faggots, and the ruthless scum” to “maggots.”
W.A.S.P. had given new meaning to “shock rock.”
Lawless in fact had done the very thing he stood against for all the prior decades while helping to fly the flag of heavy metal: he censored himself, in effect placing a parental advisory sticker over his own mouth.
At least it proved Lawless was really singing, erasing any blip of prior doubt that may have existed during the first 20 minutes of the gig spent in front of the stage. Watch it all unfold with ATM’s Facebook Live footage of “Chainsaw Charlie” here.
The first part of that footage is “The Idol,” which peculiarly saw Lawless and Duda leave the stage during an outstanding 3-minute solo by Blair. The vastly underrated guitarist also shines on other more recent, somewhat lengthy ballads such as “Miss You” on W.A.S.P.’s last album, 2015’s Golgotha.
A PG-rated W.A.S.P. is not the W.A.S.P. most in attendance grew up with and is not reminiscent of “back to the beginning.” Was this really the man who came up with an album called Kill. Fuck. Die? And what about the ultimate F.U. to Gore and Crew — “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)?”
Glad you asked.
After much debate the past several years as to whether Lawless would ever perform that track again, the screen from behind some of the carnival banners that had showcased some of the group’s MTV videos spelled out the story behind the PMRC and its largest musical nightmare. W.A.S.P. would perform half of the track, allowing the roughly 1,300 in attendance to do the honors on the “Fuck Like A Beast” part before segueing into half of “The Real Me.”
The latter, W.A.S.P.’s intensely brilliant 1989 cover of The Who tune, was unfortunately the only taste of personal favorite album The Headless Children. But Lawless demonstrated an awesomely nice touch by giving thanks, via the big screen, to every past and present member of his band over the past 40 years by name and in photos where possible.
W.A.S.P. closed with “I Wanna Be Somebody,” a tune the vocalist revealed during a nationally syndicated 1987 radio interview with Z-Rock had been inspired after he heard the line uttered on an episode of TV classic “Barney Miller.” Watch ATM footage of the evening’s finale below right.
Meanwhile, the need-no-introduction “Blind In Texas” was played but came across as just another song (ATM footage below). How great would it have been to receive an extended version during which staples of the city would be shown on the screen as the band jammed during the “Hey dude, let’s party” part? “San Antonio” would’ve been a perfect spot for this given that its mention comes at the beginning of a verse.
Still, those on hand should’ve been grateful they got to witness Lawless and his band once again at last, especially given the alternatives that occurred prior to and after the Tech Port concert. For instance, “Blind In Texas” was not performed in Corpus Christi, according to those who attended that show. And, the next night in Dallas, W.A.S.P. did not play at Amplified Live after the gig was halted by the fire marshal following Schenker’s and Armored Saint’s performances.
Yours truly has always considered Lawless and Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine two of metal’s brightest lyricists — a pair of men you’d want to go to battle with should anyone ever try to bring down the music millions of us worldwide hold so dearly.
And W.A.S.P. will always be one of this writer’s favorite bands whose songs will never grow tired or old to these ears.
But while there was nothing wrong with Lawless toning down his angst and language compared to the past, there was also nothing wrong with wanting a Blackie filled with the seduction of silver and Lawless greed we’d grown accustomed to love. The Lawless who was ruthless and stuck to his principles.
I wanted my Blackie live . . . in the raw. Only the former occurred. A future visit, without waiting another decade for it, would be most welcome for another chance at the latter.
SETLIST: Medley (On Your Knees, The Flame, The Torture Never Stops, Inside the Electric Circus), L.O.V.E. Machine, The Great Misconceptions of Me, Wild Child, The Idol, Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue), Blind In Texas: ENCORES: Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)/The Real Me, I Wanna Be Somebody
