The Neon God style continues to grow on you with each listening to it, but it was truly a Blackie Lawless in retrospective mood that visited Oslo and Rockefeller on the 18th of May. It’s been five years since the Helldorado gig at the same venue, and the band and main man sounded much more consistent this time around.
Since the last time we experienced W.A.S.P., Chris Holmes has been replaced by the young Darrell Roberts. Throughout the gig, his addition proved to be a wise choice. He doesn’t have the same charisma as Chris Holmes, but his playing skills surpass Mr. Holmes easily. At Rockefeller, Darrell Roberts owned “What I’ll Never Find” with a tremendous guitar solo, performed almost all alone with just drummer Stet Howland on stage.
But as I stated earlier, it was always a retrospective Blackie and W.A.S.P. the fans experienced. None of the songs, other than the three from The Neon God, were more recent than 1992. They started off with the usual medley, this time containing “On Your Knees,” “Inside The Electric Circus,” “Hellion,” and “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)” … and it was a highly energetic and loud start.
It certainly didn’t stop there! They didn’t calm down until after “L.O.V.E. Machine,” “Wild Child,” and “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” were blasted through the PA-system. Then, it was time to visit this year’s concept album: The Neon God. This is a piece Blackie Lawless, now 48, has been working on almost since The Crimson Idol was finished. It absolutely has got some musical similarities, but The Neon God material was well received by a focused full house crowd in the Norwegian capitol. “Sister Sadie” from The Neon God was a hit, and the theatrical stunt with a Blackie Lawless covered by green lights on top of his well-known microphone-stand was indeed a crowd-pleaser.
After delivering a great performance from their latest album, it was quickly back to the oldies and goldies. “The Headless Children” was a hit 15 years ago, and The Who’s “The Real Me” has followed Blackie ever since … and a great version it was, with bassist Mike Duda’s John Entwhistle playing style. It’s not difficult to hear where his influences come from, and he is really home when he is working his bass-neck to its full extent. An energetic explosion of “I Wanna Be Somebody” concluded the main set in front of a crowd on the verge of going completely mental.
The only quiet part of the show was a bit to long. We got a few pieces from The Crimson Idol with Blackie alone … accompanied by only his well-known B.C. Rich guitar. Also included was the first W.A.S.P. ballad, “Sleeping (In The Fire),” but this could have been played with the whole band, on which Darrell Roberts could have had yet another killer guitar solo. This was, as we know, Chris Holmes’ greatest number.
The only thing missing from the good old days was, of course, “Blind In Texas,” but this song has been a set-closer for years and years; and I guess no one was afraid that it was going to be left out this time around in the first place. W.A.S.P. ended the show with the same energetic level that had followed them for 90 minutes … and this was a much more focused effort than the one in May ’99. No one could be disappointed by W.A.S.P.’s performance in 2004 with both a great album and a great tour — and it is not over yet! …
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