On the road to the show I was listening to the ‘Shout It Out Loudcast’ recent episode of Album Review Crew for the debut ‘W.A.S.P.’ album. What timing. It’s a good listen, entertaining takes on the album song by song. Check it out.
At 8:00 pm on the dot Armored Saint hit the stage. They got the night started off right with a tight and brilliant set. If you recall Armored Saint and W.A.S.P. have toured together in 1984 and now in 2022 and here they are at the tail end of 2024 on tour with Blackie Lawless and company. Armored Saint’s set featured the classics “Raising Fear,” “March of The Saint,” “Last Train Home,” “Can U Deliver,” and “Reign of Fire.” More recent material in the set that stood out were “Standing on The Shoulders of Giants” and “Win Hands Down.” Bush addressed the crowd about the last time they performed at The Roseland Theater at the time it was Starry Night. I spoke with John Bush in 2016 when he was promoting the album ‘Win Hands Down.’
“We had a legendary show in Portland which at the time was Metallica, W.A.S.P. and Armored Saint but by the time we got to Portland; it was just Metallica and Armored Saint at that point. It was the last show of the tour and I took my ‘beastmaster’ top and threw it out into the audience. It probably wasn’t the greatest of ideas but we were excited and we were acknowledging that it was the last night of the tour. It was at Starry Night.”
The last time Armored Saint was in Portland was with Metal Church a few years ago. Then they performed a proper set, they scaled things down for this support slot but they made the best of the time they got and like in the past they deliver every time, no matter the setting. Armored Saint had a 50 minute set supporting W.A.S.P. and it went so quick. It‘s what happens when you’re a seasoned band armed with strong material.
W.A.S.P. are deviating from the 2022 traditional set they performed on their first leg. Blackie Lawless has elected to perform the self-titled debut album from top to bottom, in sequence in celebration of its 40th Anniversary. Lawless is the only performer on stage that is featured on the album, it’s his band, he founded it and he has an established group of musicians that have been with him than guys that were in the classic lineup. Unlike the 2022 leg you won’t be hearing “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast).” The song has been controversial for the lyrical content and the title and then for it being dropped from the setlist for years. I asked Blackie Lawless in 2010 when he was promoting the album ‘Babylon,’ why he wasn’t performing “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast).” “We haven’t performed that song for several years now. A lot of it has to do with me personally. I was born again when I was 11 years old; I was in church actively through my teens. No one made me go, I reached a point where I became disillusioned with the church and left. I went for about 20 years when I kept bumping into walls and I had one of those epiphany moments in life where I came to the conclusion that I thought I was mad at GOD, but as it turned out I was not mad at GOD, I was mad at man for institutionalizing my thinking to a large degree. When I came to that conclusion I then put my guard down and I turned to my faith. That in large part is why I don’t do that song anymore. It’s interesting because silence, or the absence of not doing something, screams much louder than doing it. This then brings up the question, ‘why don’t you do it’, and I tell them.”
W.A.S.P. hit the stage at 9:30 pm, they played the debut album in sequence so they opened with “I Wanna Be Somebody,” which was inspired by a line uttered by Detective Ron Harris, a character on the Barney Miller show. Lawless was front and center perched up on his chrome skeleton mic stand who he’s named ‘Elvis.’ It has become a staple of the show over the years. The stage set featured a combination of scrims and three projection screens that featured vintage concert footage, portions of the classic music videos along with material that was appropriate for the song that was being performed. The highlights from the debut were “I Wanna Be Somebody,” “L.O.V.E. Machine,” “The Flame,” “Hellion,” and “Sleeping (In The Fire).”
Lawless and the guys took a short intermission before they reappeared and performed an ‘Inside The Electric Circus’ medley that included “Inside The Electric Circus/I Don’t Need No Doctor/Scream Until You Like It.” They followed that up with ‘The Headless Children’ medley that included “The Real Me/Forever Free/The Headless Children.” The medleys were a great addition to the tail end of the set. Closing out the show “Wild Child” and “Blind In Texas” which brought the house down.
What an excellent night of entertainment, music,use of visuals and theatrics. Some closing comments, Blackie oversells the stage sets, he did that on the last leg and he did that here. He mentioned the ‘appearance’ of ‘the rack’ on this tour which didn’t happen. Similar to the ‘appearance’ of the ‘raw meat’ on the last tour. The omission of “Animal” was a slight misstep as it was from the era of the debut album. The use of enhancements goes beyond ‘beefing up’ the gang vocals. Ultimately it’s worth your time and money for this production and the nostalgia of it all.
