In a whirlwind of heavy downpours and possible tornado touchdowns in the area, fans drove into the city and lined-up down the block waiting for doors to open at Pittsburgh’s Stage AE last night as the venue welcomed the return of W.A.S.P. on their Album One Alive tour with support from Armored Saint.
Armored Saint was a late, but welcome edition to the tour filling a spot that was originally planned for Death Angel. Their line-up features John Bush on lead vocals, brothers Phil Sandoval (guitar) and Gonzo Sandoval (drums), Jeff Duncan (guitar), and Joey Vera (bass).
We caught the band most recently at the Roxian Theater in support of Queensryche while they were celebrating Joey’s birthday this past spring. And now, while in support of W.A.S.P., Armored Saint has can be found delivering a classic nine-song set.
Interestingly, they just issued a live video for “Chemical Euphoria,” a song which appears on Armored Saint’s third studio album. It was filmed just last month in Seattle, Washington at The Moore Theatre, while that album, Raising Fear, was released way back in 1987 on Chrysalis Records during a hiatus from their long-running partnership with Metal Blade. The band continues on with that Metal Blade relationship to date having renewed with a worldwide multi-album deal earlier this year, and we look forward to hearing new music from them in the near future.
We got a bit of a laugh out of the paper set list itself, which was labeled Pittsburgh, OH, but we are pretty sure whoever typed that up was well aware that they were a stone’s throw from the stadiums that house the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates in Pennsylvania.
During a high-energy nine-song set that even brought John Bush to the balcony for a quick visit to the box seats, Armored Saint mixed things up this time around and skipped “Tribal Dance” and “Last Train Home,” but they did take us back to the debut album with both March of the Saint” and “Can U Deliver,” before closing out the evening with “Reign of Fire” (and thankfully there were no sound hiccups this time here in PA!
W.A.S.P. offers a unique experience as they are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the debut W.A.S.P. album by playing their first release in its entirety, from start to finish in order, and we couldn’t have been more excited to catch them last evening having missed the tour when it rolled through two years ago.
Frontman Blackie Lawless is also offering a intimate VIP experience before each show on the tour, giving fans the opportunity to get photos with Blackie, as well as autographs, a autographed laminate, guitar picks, and participate in a very special Q&A and experience, for the very first time, the W.A.S.P. museum. The museum contains a variety of items taken directly from the W.A.S.P. storage lockers, and is exclusive to VIPs.
The showcase gives fans a glimpse of the original W.A.S.P. sign, Blackie’s head from the first stage, a Raw Meat box, his bass, his Raiders guitar, the ‘Blind In Texas’ guitar, his clothes from the “Blind In Texas” and “Wild Child” videos, gold and platinum records, magazines, posters from iconic shows, the “F*ck Like A Beast” codpiece, a surprise gold record and clock, and more. And this is addition to getting a photo with Elvis, Blackie’s legendary mic stand. Having gotten a quick peek at Elvis as he was the last to leave the stage last night, I would imagine getting a posed photo behind the stand alone would be pretty awesome. Fans can get tickets for the experience here, with November and December dates to include shows in Orlando, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and more (full list below).
Making history for inciting love, hate, and raw emotion since 1982, W.A.S.P. has been known for delivering shock and rock to the notoriety of banned performances and uproar from Religious organizations, City Councils, Parliaments, and the United State’s Senate.
With the band’s iconic founding member, frontman Blackie Lawless, leading the group as their vocalist and primary songwriter since the band’s inception, these shock rockers have now sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for four decades.
In tandem with a 7 Savage boxset due out in January from Madfish Music, W.A.S.P. brings this universally acclaimed “classic” album to life with a larger than life video collection streaming behind the band in the foggy shadows. With Blackie Lawless behind his legendary Elivis microphone stand, and bandmates Mike Duda (bass), Doug Blair (guitar), and Aquiles Priester (drums), the band’s performance at Stage AE offered up a healthy serving of rock minus the “shock” component that made them legends.
Taking the stage a bit later than anticipated, the band entered around 9:35 pm amidst the backdrop of fog and string-lighting that later added to a circus atmosphere introduced following a mid-set bread following an eclectic mix of intro selections that included Black Sabbath, Savatage, and Doors classics.
As expected, the band began with two fan faves, “I Wanna Be Somebody” and “L.O.V.E. Machine,” and continued on without pause until they took a break to transition into the circus themed medley of “Inside the Electric Circus,” “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” and “Scream Until You Like It.” The second half also offered up a cover of The Who’s “The Real Me,” before W.A.S.P. closed things out for the night with “Wild Child,” and of course, “Blind in Texas.”
Album One Alive tickets can be purchased at https://www.waspnation.com/tour and remaining dates for 2024 are as follows:
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Live Photos by Editor and founder Kara Marie Uhrlen for The Pure Rock Shop. Posted on 11/20/2024.
