Saturday 12th June

WASP - Rock Stage (4/5)

The last time I saw WASP were back in 1999 and they played a very good gig. In later years I’ve lost interest a bit, much due to the pretty weak albums they’ve put out. Until 2007’s Dominator and their latest effort Babylon, both shown a WASP that feels born again musically...

......And the word on the streets has been about how great a live act WASP is nowadays. That, plus the fact that they have promised us a nostalgia gig with songs only from their two first albums made my interest in the band rising. Blackie and the boys entered the stage shooting “On Your Knees” from the hip and then the hits just kept coming. Songs like “The Last Command” and “The Torture Never Stops” hadn’t been played for 25 something years (and the latter may should have been left in the closet, to be honest), but it was sure fun to hear the oldies again.

Of course, with a new album out, Blackie didn’t keep his “only from the 2 first albums” promise. Both “Babylon’s Burning” and “Crazy” from the new album, as well as “The Idol” and “Chainsaw Charlie” from The Crimson Idol were performed next to gems like “Wild Child”, “L.O.V.E. Machine”, “Widowmaker” and of course “I Wanna Be Somebody”. I didn’t mind though. In my book, the six first albums are all killer as well as the two latest.

The performance were awesome, the band are as tight as a camel’s arse in a sandstorm and Blackie Lawless is still the most underrated singer in the world. The 54 year old’s voice is still fantastic. Only minus is that the new born christian Blackie refuses to perform one of his most loved songs, “Animal (I Fuck Like A Beast)”.

Since Axl Rose and his band doesn’t interest me a bit, this were my headliner of the evening. Thank God for that.


Check out WASP :
http://www.waspnation.com

Review : Jon Wilmenius

Photos : Jussi Ratilanien
www.juspic.com


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