*Footage & photos by Kenny Howell

Watching BLACKIE LAWLESS onstage is like taking in a familiar movie. You know what’s coming, but it’s no less entertaining. BLACKIE crept across the stage with unparalleled rock flair wearing his trademark tasseled boots and saw blades backed by lead guitarist DOUG BLAIR, bassist MIKE DUDA and drummer MIKE DUPKE.

I was not sure what to expect for a crowd on a Tuesday night at a venue that is 25 miles south of Boston in the middle of suburbia but it was obviously clear that after almost 30-years W.A.S.P. is still relevant.  The venue’s capacity is 1,050 and if it was not sold-out it was damn close.

W.A.S.P. was an invention designed to provoke American society with its spectacular raunchy stage antics but Tuesday nights lackluster stage show was without the impressive production values we have come to love and the current W.A.S.P. show is dependent on its musical virtues instead of shtick – there’s genius in simplicity.

W.A.S.P. unloaded a set of classics including, “I DON‘T NEED NO DOCTOR,” “HELLION,” “WILD CHILD” and an epic rendition of “ON YOUR KNEES.” The new material from their latest album BABYLON included, “CRAZY,” and “BABYLON IS BURNING,” and both upheld the tradition of all things W.A.S.P. BLACKIE’s sinister bellow is still solid as he successfully pushed his voice outside its comfort zone throughout the 90-minute set.

BLACKIE, a legend in his own musical right seems no longer  interested in pushing anybody’s buttons or taunting those waiting in the wings to take him down and for that I give him credit. He is a man who knows he’s been drained of his shock value by Twilight-style mainstream co-option. Now even BLACKIE’s most aggressive antics would seem oddly conservative by today’s standards.

I have seen W.A.S.P. perform many times over the years and had always thought that the theatrics, props and general appearance of BLACKIE himself was what made a W.A.S.P. show so superior. After Tuesday night, I realize that even without all of the extras, W.A.S.P. still put on a stellar show that I simply cannot bring myself to miss and neither should you.

SETLIST:

• On Your Knees
• The Real Me
• Hellion / I Don’t Need No Doctor / Scream Until You Like It
• L.O.V.E. Machine
• Crazy
• Babylon’s Burning
• Wild Child
• Arena Of Pleasure
• Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)
• The Idol
• Take Me Up
• I Wanna Be Somebody
• Encore:
• Blind In Texas

For more information  visit W.A.S.P.

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