On a warm early fall day, W.A.S.P. brought their 1984 to Headless tour to Wallingford, Connecticut’s Toyota Oakdale Theatre, and brought some deep cuts to the table. With special guests, K.K.’s Priest opening the show, these well-seasoned rockers brought their A-game to the stage for a night of non-stop intense rock, which got the crowd banging their heads and singing along. The crowd was warned that crowd-surfing and moshing were not allowed at the show, or they would be ejected. For this show, there were seats right up to the stage; however, everyone was on their feet throughout the night.
K.K.’s Priest was first to hit the stage, playing a mix of Judas Priest classics and originals. Metal legends K.K. Downing and Tim “Ripper” Owens always melt your face off, and this show was no exception, kicking it off with three Judas Priest anthems, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, “Breaking the Law”, and “Living After Midnight” and they kept the energy level high from start to finish. Completing the band’s lineup is A.J. Mills on guitar, Sean Elg on drums, and the newest recruit, Ant “The Wall” on bass. K.K. is metal through and through, donning studded leather from head to toe, looking like a rock star while shredding his axe with poster-worthy poses for the camera. Next up were a couple tunes off of their most recent album, The Sinner Rides Again. After another original song, “Hellfire Thunderbolt” off K.K.’s first album, the band rounded out the set with a host of Judas Priest songs like “Heading Out to the Highway”, “Turbo Lover” and then finished the night with “Raise Your Fists”.
K.K.’s Priest is
K.K. Downing – Guitars
Tim “Ripper” Owens – Lead vocals
A.J. Mills – Guitars, backing vocals
Sean Elg – Drums
Ant “The Wall” – Bass, backing vocals
Setlist:
1. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (Judas Priest cover)
2. Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover)
3. Living After Midnight (Judas Priest cover)
4. Strike of the Viper
5. One More Shot at Glory
6. Hellfire Thunderbolt
7. Heading Out to the Highway (Judas Priest cover)
8. Beyond the Realms of Death (Judas Priest cover)
9. The Sentinel (Judas Priest cover)
10. Victim of Changes (Judas Priest cover)
11. Turbo Lover (Judas Priest cover)
12. Raise Your Fists
80’s shock rock legends W.A.S.P., who were targeted by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) back in the day for their use of semi-naked models on torture devices as well as throwing raw meat into the audience, buzzed into Wallingford, Connecticut’s Toyota Oakdale Theatre, this time minus the antics that got them banned in some countries while focusing on putting on a top-notch show for the fans. The last time I saw W.A.S.P., frontman Blacklie Lawless was battling horrific back pain just to get through the show, but it appeared as if he had had an excellent recovery from that, and he put on a show that made him look 20 years younger. With fifteen albums of music to choose from, they certainly had a lot of material to choose from, but this tour was focusing on their first four albums. From 1984’s self-titled W.A.S.P. album to 1989’s The Headless Children. In addition to their own songs, they played 4 classic rock cover tunes.
If you’ve ever been to a W.A.S.P. show, you know that Blackie Lawless has his beast of a mic stand named Elvis at the center of the stage. It is a giant skeleton with handlebars at the top and a spring on the bottom that he actually gets up on and rides at the end of the show. The stage was devoid of the gory antics of days past but was lit in mostly saturated red or yellow and had circus side show banners hung behind the band. Drummer Aquiles Prietser had a killer set with 4 kick drums and a full rack of cymbals. After an intro tape of The Doors “The End”, the band kicked off the show with a cover of Uriah Heap‘s “Easy Living”. Bassist Mike Duda was thrashing about the stage throughout the night, putting on a show for the fans. Rounding out the “Winged Assassins” was Doug Blair, who has been with them since 2006.
The rest of the first set included 5 songs from their early years, plus a The Who cover and a Sister cover, “Mr. Cool”, a band that Blackie was in with Nikki Sixx in the mid-70s. After a brief break and a recording of “Mephisto Waltz”, they came back out for another seven songs, including some of their most popular tracks as well as “Inside the Electric Circus” and a cover of Nickolas Ashford’s “I Don’t Need No Doctor”. I don’t know how these singers like Blackie can still kick ass for an hour and a half and keep doing it night after night. This tour with K.K.’s Priest makes you feel like you are still back in the late 80s rocking the night away.
This double bill melted the Toyota Oakdale Theatre to the ground with their searing vocals and guitar riffs piercing your ears. You can catch W.A.S.P. and K.K.’s Priest on tour throughout the United States until the end of October.
W.A.S.P. is
Blackie Lawless – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion
Mike Duda – Bass, backing vocals
Doug Blair – Lead guitar, backing vocals
Aquiles Priester – Drums
Setlist:
1. Easy Living (Uriah Heap cover)
2. Fistful of Diamonds
3. The Flame
4. Mr. Cool (SISTER cover)
5. On Your Knees
6. Thunderhead
7. The Real Me (The Who cover)
8. The Headless Children
Set 2
9. I Wanna Be Somebody
10. L.O.V.E Machine
11. Inside The Electric Circus
12. I Don’t Need No Doctor (Nickolas Ashford cover)
13. Golgotha/Wild Child
14. Blind in Texas
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