Another scenic sunny yet muggy summer evening Saturday outside the Aztec Theatre proved to be anything but on the inside of the downtown venue.
That’s where thunder reigned.
Thunderheads from W.A.S.P. Thunderbolts courtesy of KK’s Priest. And it all resulted in a thunderous return to the Alamo City for the leaders of both bands celebrating their early years with a modern twist.
Making their third San Antonio appearance in six years after a several-years absence, the Blackie Lawless-led W.A.S.P. focused on their first four albums on the “1984 to Headless” tour.
In 2022 at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, W.A.S.P. spotlighted 30 years of The Crimson Idol in a performance that was odd, and perhaps short of some expectations, in various ways (coverage here). In 2024, Lawless rectified that in a big way at the Aztec by turning up the intensity and focus as W.A.S.P. played the 1984 self-titled debut album in its entirety with a few additional hits (coverage here).
This time, the addition of songs from 1985’s The Last Command and 1986’s Inside the Electric Circus that culminated a string of three sexually charged records and preceded 1989’s politically driven The Headless Children promised and delivered a broader spectrum of classic W.A.S.P.
Somewhat inexplicably, though, the Aztec’s response was rather lukewarm. Despite the fact Lawless, guitarist Doug Blair, bassist Mike Duda and drummer Aquiles Priester opened with a pair of classics they did not play on either of the two preceding visits: the 1986 Uriah Heep cover of “Easy Livin’ “ — a track with which the originators closed their May 30, 2024, stop at the Tobin Center supporting Saxon — and 1985 deep cut “Fistful of Diamonds,” the Aztec’s reaction was, shall we say, lame?
As W.A.S.P. progressed through their ‘80s repertoire that included 1984 favorites “The Flame” and “B.A.D.” plus The Who cover “The Real Me” (printed setlist in 55-photo gallery), an explanation for the crowd’s indifference was needed. Some theories abounded:
1) Prior to W.A.S.P. taking the stage, there was a peculiar announcement warning patrons that crowd surfing and/or coming onto the stage would result in “immediate ejection.” To be fair, the venue had signs outside alerting of the former. But even in the world of heavy metal, such a pronouncement is not expected. And it seemed to partially suck the air out of the crowd moments before the headliners played a note.
2) Other than repeating “All I need, all I need, all I need is my L.O.V.E. Machine” and “I’m blind, I’m blind, I’m Blind in Texas” for the mandatory finale, Lawless’ lone instance of speaking to the audience came when he introduced 1984 “Cries in the Night” demo “Mr. Cool” by sharing that he sold the song for $5,000 but was later sued for $1 million. Other than that, Lawless bypassed his customary, “San Antonio, how the hell are ya” or any other moments of keeping his fans engaged.
3) Despite being the headliner and having 90 minutes to perform, W.A.S.P.’s 76-minute set featured half-and-half versions of “Thunderhead” and “Forever Free” plus “Inside the Electric Circus” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” So just when fans may have been getting into the first of the pairings, Lawless changed things up perhaps one too many times. On “Forever Free” in particular, the band omitted the midsection heaviest part of the ballad that would have complemented Priester’s booming thunderclaps of the kit. Not to mention, it would have served as an ode to the late Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali, a close friend of Lawless’ who played on the entire The Headless Children album. With San Antonio drumming royalty in the house in the form of Buckcherry’s Francis Ruiz and ex-Fates Warning, Halford and Sebastian Bach backstopper Bobby Jarzombek, W.A.S.P. missed an opportunity for a nice touch.
4) Speaking of one too many times: Lawless frequently turned his back to the crowd to make sure he was in tune and rhythm with Priester. Most frontmen do that once or twice during a show, but Blackie’s frequency contributed to the disconnect with the crowd.
Not even Lawless frying a likeness of Adolf Hitler in an electric chair that had been covered all night by a “Danger: 10,000 Volts” banner during the title track to The Headless Children (watch ATM footage below) could resonate with the crowd.
Lawless deviated from the theme of the tour briefly by playing the intro to his latest album — 2015’s Golgotha — before the Aztec came alive at last to the sounds of “Wild Child” (ATM footage below) and of course “Blind in Texas.”
Although W.A.S.P. delivered the goods, they didn’t have a typical opening act to follow. In fact, KK’s Priest architect K.K. Downing’s first album with Judas Priest dropped a full decade before W.A.S.P.’s.
But after previous tours in Austin, Downing and his new band that formed in 2019 and has released two albums finally stopped in the Alamo City. Downing even acknowledged “It’s been a long time” to the Aztec faithful before launching into Judas Priest’s three most commercially popular songs: “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ “, “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight.”
Though they turned the former into half a song, KK’s Priest fit in a variety of Judas Priest classics to go with four KK’s Priest future classics in their 61-minute set.
The crowd was fired up from the get-go seeing Downing and vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens tear through the tunes with drummer Sean Elg, guitarist A.J. Mills and bassist Tony Newton.
As the support act, KK’s Priest did not offer any tracks from Owens’ 1996-2003 era in JP. Nevertheless, Owens has always been the right choice to front the many bands he has, including Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen and Dio Disciples.
Though they omitted obvious selection “The Ripper,” the band shined on KK’s Priest blazer “Hellfire Thunderbolt” and 1981 Judas Priest favorite “Heading Out to the Highway” (ATM footage of both below).
Any gig involving “Beyond the Realms of Death” and “Victim of Changes” is worth the price of admission alone, and KK’s Priest further amped up the already fired up audience with those before also tossing in “The Sentinel” and “Turbo Lover,” then ending with KK’s Priest tune “Raise Your Fists.”
The tale of two audience reactions between the bands was in and of itself unusual. Some of it was through no fault of the efforts of the musicians. Some of it was.
But when it comes to receiving the headbang for one’s buck, you couldn’t go wrong with a 74-year-old silver-haired guitarist who hadn’t played San Antonio since leaving his former band in 2010.
Or with a one-of-his-kind leader who has dedicated his life to spewing out metal record after metal record when he could’ve played baseball in the Cincinnati Reds’ organization. A legendary frontman who demonstrated that his gargantuan mic stand Elvis was no match for his recently turned 70-year-old body that was filled with herniated discs and vertebrae damage just three years ago when he climbed it at show’s end and bellowed his patented, “Good night! We’ll see you next time!”
So if there is a next time for turning back the clock with one or both of these majestic bands — sign us up. ‘Cause there’s no such thing as too much heavy metal thunder.
W.A.S.P. SETLIST: Easy Livin’, Fistful of Diamonds, The Flame, Mr. Cool (1984 Cries in the Night demo), B.A.D., Thunderhead / Forever Free medley, The Real Me, The Headless Children, I Wanna Be Somebody, L.O.V.E. Machine, Inside the Electric Circus / I Don’t Need No Doctor medley, Golgotha (intro), Wild Child, Blind In Texas
KK’s PRIEST SETLIST: You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (half), Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight, Strike of the Viper, One More Shot At Glory, Hellfire Thunderbolt, Heading Out to the Highway, Beyond the Realms of Death, The Sentinel, Victim of Changes, Turbo Lover, Raise Your Fists
