Live Gig Reviews

W.A.S.P. & South of Salem – O2 Academy Bristol, 23/03/2023

W.A.S.P. & South of Salem
O2 Academy Bristol
23/03/2023

Review by Simon Black
Photography By Paul Hutchings

It’s a ridiculously wet night in Bristol tonight and a sold-out Bristol Academy is taking a while to fill up thanks to the slightly paranoid approach the venue is taking of insisting everyone goes through an airport style metal detector, making me wonder if W.A.S.P. are still all that controversial after 40 years. But then Blackie’s been allegedly shot at, received countless death threats and a near miss with a tampered-with Jaguar over the decades, although I suspect it’s more likely to be a backlash against the venue than the artist. 

I can’t get into the review proper without qualifying that, but basically the O2 live organisation did nothing to deter the reputation they have earned as one that likes to wring every penny out of a crowd. Not just the obscene bar prices that one might expect from a central London venue – not out in the sticks, then there’s the subject of merchandise. The support act were the only ones selling anything, but let’s face it at £40 a shirt they weren’t going to be shifting many units when the price point is £30 for a headliner and £20-25 for the support, all of which screams of having to part with 40-50% of the take to the venue if you compare the prices to their Bandcamp page (hint). This explains why there was no W.A.S.P merch at all, as Blackie’s answer was likely to have involved two words, the second one being “Off”. 

Bournemouth’s rapidly rising South of Salem don’t hit the stage until a good hour after the doors open and most of the 1,600-capacity crowd have been standing up for a while by this point, so are more than ready for them. It’s remarkable how well this band have done in such a short time given they did not form long before lockdown, but they’ve worked hard and earned their dues, and if the performance tonight is anything to go by then it’s not hard to see why. They rocked it.

It’s not a huge stage at the best of the time, and with the headliner’s backdrops and risers taking up a lot of room the band have to carefully pick their way through the narrow space available and have their work cut out for them. But these guys know how to work a room that isn’t there to see them, and despite the lack of space throw out a huge amount of energy and passion that very quickly makes people forget the woes of entry and waiting. 

Blessed with a really good sound mix and a generous amount of lighting the songs are just what is needed tonight. Their brand of ballsy Hard Rock has been around for decades (fortunately so have most of the audience), so that process does not take long and their forty odd minute set whizzes by leaving an appreciative bunch of folks who will happily go out of the way to see them again, myself included.

https://www.facebook.com/southofsalemofficial

This gig has been a long time coming. In fact, for me personally this is the final show in the clutch of events that have been kicked down the can a fair few times since the world first went to hell in a hand cart (and ironically enough coincided on the 3rd anniversary date of the UK entering lockdown). Blackie Lawless had the bug, and had it hard early on in January 2020, when most of the world was still not recognising what was inbound. Given that he also had malingering long-Covid symptoms for a while and is a man in his 60’s, which makes his performance tonight all the more commendable and he more than anyone else in the room is humble and happy to be here on the other side of it all.

Although advertised as a return to the blood and thunder days of the 80’s, the reality is flaming signs, drinking blood from the skulls of your PMRC enemies and throwing raw meat into the crowd are not going to happen anymore, but that doesn’t stop the band making the effort to put a proper show on without so much as a sparkler in terms of pyro. Turns out they don’t need it, and to be honest Rammstein have made all that their own now. The 19th Century side show banners evoke a darker take on the “Inside The Electric Circus” era feel they are aiming for, but the retro theatrics remain confined to a couple of back projection screens in their midst showing vintage video footage, although it’s clear that the set was designed around a much larger stage size, so the band still don’t have much space to work with. Lawless still manages to dance around nimbly – no mean feat given the amount of space the floor-stand for his infamous bones and bike parts mike stand ‘Elvis’ takes up, but it’s still a great prop and a great way of keeping the energy moving on stage.

The first thing that strikes you though is how little Lawless voice has aged. He may be a bit out of breath for his in-between song banter with the crowd, but he still hits the notes spectacularly well and all in the songs’ original keys, which is highly unusual for a band 40 years out. Again, the whole sound mix is handled brilliantly, allowing all the instruments to crisply be heard individually, with Lawless slavish drive for perfectionism making sure that all the extra sound layers and elements are audible and not just drowned out in an excessive amount of amperage. 

W.A.S.P. have always maintained a unique sound (OK, we’ll pretend “K.F.D.” didn’t happen), but it’s the distinctive songs from their 80’s heyday that always shift the audience response up a few notches live, so with a set comprising of material no older than 1992, the crowd responds accordingly with a circle pit an aging contemporary Thrash band would love to see. The set list is pure nostalgia, opening with a four-song medley and a couple of other belters from their first three albums, before changing pace completely with three tracks from “The Crimson Idol”. That may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I still love that album to bits, and am absolutely delighted at their inclusion, even if ‘The Idol’ still feels like it’s desperately trying to redo “The Wall” (’Comfortably Blackie’, anyone?). Nevertheless, it’s consummately delivered and still for me remains one of the most moving bits of solo guitar work ever. 

The older material finishes things off, and with ‘Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)’ getting an airing and the loudest singalong of the night – despite us all being told it would never get played again a while back. This is W.A.S.P. giving the crowd what they’ve been missing for a very long time, and that’s their money’s worth. Oh, and a nice touch to credit every musician who has contributed to W.A.S.P. over the years on their play out. The only thing I can really complain about is that the lighting really struggles to pick Blackie out, but again I suspect that’s a side effect of squeezing into such a dinky stage.

The fact that that distinctive sound has been recaptured so perfectly, was delivered so consummately as well, and with the energy from the frontman that would have been a tough delivery if he was half his age, I am left feeling with what I wanted most – a show that captured this seminal band at their best, and indeed probably better than I have ever seen them play before. 

You can catch up on a good night’s sleep, but you can’t catch up on a good night out, and this was a very, very good night out.

https://www.facebook.com/W.A.S.P.Nation

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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Simon Black and Ever Metal. Photography the property of Paul Hutchings. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

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