Many metalheads, particularly those in their 40s and 50s, would likely reference the ‘80s era, specifically that which emanated from the Sunset Strip, as their favorite brand of music’s golden period. The slew of bands, over-the-top fashions, excess of after-show debauchery and hundreds of memorable songs stamped their place in the lives of countless aficionados.
Naturally, some of the bands from that scene and time made it bigger than others. Some barely lasted one album. All played a part in a culture of music that’s second to none.
W.A.S.P. and Armored Saint fall somewhere in the middle of that ledger, though — especially in the former’s case — much closer to the top when it comes to popularity and an imprint that still resonates today. Both undeniably passed the criteria that matters most: creating music and specific songs that have stood the test of time four decades later.
Anyone requiring more convincing needed to look no further than Saturday night at the Aztec Theatre as W.A.S.P. brought its Album One Alive tour with veteran stalwarts Armored Saint in a double dosage of Los Angeles-area metal gone modern.
W.A.S.P. eccentric frontman Blackie Lawless went more than a decade without performing in the Alamo City until Nov. 4, 2022, when — guess who? — Armored Saint (along with Michael Schenker) each celebrated their longevity at the Boeing Center at Tech Port. That performance, from a W.A.S.P. fan’s standpoint, not only lacked the overdue punch many were expecting from the rare visit, but it also featured Lawless shockingly changing lyrics to one of his songs to a PG version and barely found him addressing his audience (coverage here).
Two years and 26 days later at the Aztec may as well have been another lifetime. This show was a hundred times better and more “back to the beginning” than 2022.
Saturday night brought forth a longer (88 minutes approximately) and clearer (in sound and lighting) performance exclusive to songs from the first four albums covering 1984-89 even after W.A.S.P. had played the debut record in its entirety. It also featured Lawless sharing various anecdotes and stories with the crowd that never seemed long-winded. Judging by various fans approaching Alamo True Metal during the night with comments about Lawless’ pre-show meet-and-greet being “next level,” “unrushed” and “worth it,” it was as if Lawless’ banter with both levels of the Aztec was an extension of the M&G.
One of those spoken moments featured Lawless stating how he had called “half a dozen promoters that I know around the country” to ask them for their thoughts on his idea of bringing the Album One Alive tour to life. He stated that each of them was all for it but that the final one asked if he would perform the album in sequential order, only for Lawless to tell him, “No.” When that promoter referenced a mythical Led Zeppelin reunion playing their fourth album all the way through and asked Lawless if they would start with “Stairway to Heaven,” the singer relented, “OK, you got me by the ying yang there.”
Lawless then admitted that initial rehearsals with his band — 18-year tenured guitarist Doug Blair, 26-year bassist Mike Duda and drummer Aquiles Priester — “weren’t going very smoothly” because some of the songs hadn’t been played in 40 years.
Not only were they played at the Aztec. They served to put to rest any public doubt that Lawless isn’t singing. Take it from one who spent the first three songs in the photo pit and actually heard Lawless and Blair’s vocals flowing from their vocal cords and not just the microphones (watch ATM Facebook Live footage of “B.A.D.,” “School Daze” and “Hellion”). Even 40 years later, it’s not hard to get fired up upon hearing “a fire bell is ringing hell” and “at the altar of Rock N’ Roll you kneel.”
Lawless also shared that until this tour, he had never opened a show with “I Wanna Be Somebody.” While gazing at the MTV video for that tune (and subsequently several others) on the big screen, it brought back the memory of a 1987 syndicated radio interview Lawless did with Z-Rock in which he said the inspiration for that song came after he heard the line uttered on an episode of “Barney Miller” (Google it, kiddos) and that it “put a hook in me.”
W.A.S.P. had spent the majority of its tours opening with another first-album track, “On Your Knees,” one of many from back in the day that sparked Tipper Gore’s Parental Music Resource Center (PMRC) shenanigans and efforts to bring down metal because she viewed W.A.S.P. as “We Are Sexual Perverts.” Forty years later, the acronym may be as obvious, or mysterious, to some as it once was. Regardless, you can watch ATM footage below of “On Your Knees,” “Tormentor” and “The Torture Never Stops” as W.A.S.P. ended the first album in style adorned by a blood-red stage emblazoned with chains and skulls (again, more back to the beginning than its previous visit).
And unlike 2022, Lawless expanded the post-album one portion of the show. After a 5-minute break, the quartet tore into medleys from 1986’s Inside the Electric Circus and personal favorite The Headless Children from 1989.
A 35-year celebration of the latter would’ve been incredible to experience. But at least we heard sizable portions of “The Real Me,” MTV ballad “Forever Free” and the tyrant-inspired title track, which was non-existent at Tech Port.
Fellow Los Angeles natives Armored Saint are always heavy, dependable and energetic, and that didn’t change from the 2022 show.
Opening with an absolute ripping tune from 2020 and latest album Punching the Sky in “End of the Attention Span,” vocalist John Bush and company took aim at today’s perils of gotta-know-everything-now social media with a song they could easily open every gig with from now on.
Following that blazing track, it was nothing but classics beginning with the 1987 title track to Raising Fear. Bush introed 1984 title track March of the Saint by saying the band first played it in San Antonio during a three-night stint at the Cameo Theatre with Metallica — a group the vocalist could’ve joined back in the day but turned down, something he discussed with ATM in a turn-back-the-clock interview here.
Guitarists Phil Sandoval and Jeff Duncan, bassist Joey Vera and drummer Gonzo Sandoval round out the quintet that still has 80 percent original members, and they teamed up to play 2000 track “The Pillar,” a deep cut they didn’t perform when they headlined Come And Take It Live in mid-May in Austin with Dangerous Toys (ATM coverage here. Ironically, Dangerous Toys was also headlining its own show this night at Deco Ballroom). The well-oiled machine was in fine form all night, as demonstrated by ATM’s Facebook Live footage of “Left Hook From Right Field” and “Aftermath.”
Bush, who also referenced playing “the Majestic around the corner with Saxon back in the day,” took to the balcony during “Can U Deliver,” (ATM footage below) before the Saints capped it off with “Reign of Fire” (also below).
Unbeknownst to the crowd, it was reported by the band yesterday that Vera had surgery on his left eye in Fort Worth two days after the gig for Posterior Vitreous Detachment. In a prime example of “the show must go on,” Vera — who of course also has been in Fates Warning for many years with San Antonio natives Ray Alder and Bobby Jarzombek — showed no ill effects and continued to rock and perform like the trooper he’s always been on stage. Alamo True Metal wishes him well.
But you can’t end an evening with W.A.S.P. in San Antonio without performing “Blind in Texas” (ATM Facebook Live footage here), and Lawless gave the fans what they wanted. He prefaced it by telling them they had witnessed history in seeing the first album played live all the way.
There was no blood or raw meat. No pyro. No political flags. Just a kick-ass performance from beginning to end by one of metal’s important, influential, favorite and fun frontmen and artists.
Stay healthy and hungry, boys. And buckle up, metal brethren. Forty years of The Last Command is just around the corner.
W.A.S.P. setlist: 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.
Medley 1 (The Big Welcome/Inside the Electric Circus, I Don’t Need No Doctor, Scream Until You Like It).
Medley 2 (The Real Me, Forever Free, The Headless Children), Wild Child, Blind in Texas
ARMORED SAINT setlist: End of the Attention Span, Raising Fear, The Pillar, March of the Saint, Left Hook From Right Field, Aftermath, Win Hands Down, Can U Deliver, Reign of Fire
