Check out all the photos HERE
Of all of the concerts that I have been to in the last few months, this one would have to be the most memorable, that’s for sure. It seemed quite surreal to finally be seeing this iconic metal band in the country after twenty five years in the business.
After being surprised by the decent turn outs for Adelaide metal shows lately, I was really pumped up and ready for a big night night out but unfortunately I was a little disappointed by the size of the crowd. Thebarton Theatre is an ideal venue for an atmospheric heavy gig but tonight it just looked too sparse.
When support band The Poor hit the stage, it seemed that there may have been as many people at the show to see them as there were to see WASP. Although they haven’t released an album since their Who Cares debut in the early nineties, the set was well received and remembered by the crowd and singer Skenie looked exactly the same as he always has; it was as though the band had never disappeared at all. Their set certainly did what it was supposed to do; it revved the crowd up for the main act.
After The Poor closed their energetic set with their classic More Wine Waiter Please, the undersized crowd seemed to have lifted in spirit and the room, thankfully, didn’t seem so quiet anymore.
With cold beer in hand, I was ready and excited to see how this show would work. Having seen the band’s website weeks before the show, I knew to expect something a bit different from the typical rock gig performance tonight. Essentially the format of the show was to be the band playing their entire _Crimson Idol _album from 1992 (which was a concept album) from start to finish, with a movie telling the story playing on a screen behind the band. After this part of the show, following a ten minute interval, the band would then return to play their greatest hits in typical rock gig fashion.
Before the band made their entrance, I was hoping to find this to be a refreshing and inspiring change of pace for a metal show. Unfortunately I don’t think it really worked for me at all.
The band made their entrance in almost complete darkness and the main source of light onstage came from the movie screen behind the band. Although it was a dramatic entrance, if I hadn’t been aware of the format for the show beforehand, I would have assumed that there was a major problem with the lighting. It just seemed very wrong to be in Thebarton Theatre with cranking rock music blasting through the P.A while a room full (well…half full) of screaming rock fans essentially watched a movie while four silhouettes moved around on stage in front of it. In theory, it seemed like an OK idea for a rock concert but in reality…
At some point during this first half of the show, I ducked out to the bar to grab another beer and found that there were quite a few punters hanging around at the bar with the same view of the proceedings, waiting for the ‘main act’ to start.
After the first half of the show (the _Crimson Idol _movie) was over and the intermission was used for toilet breaks and beer runs, it seemed that the real concert had finally begun. With flashing lights, smoke, and loud guitars, the fans could finally see the legendary WASP frontman Blackie Lawless and co, with the lights on. It seemed as though the first half of their set was actually a support set for this proper one.
The highlights for me in this set would have to be Wild Child and_ I Wanna be Somebody_, from their first couple of albums and these seemed to get the most excitement from the crowd as well.
Unfortunately, just as the night seemed to be reaching its greatest heights, it was all over, without the chance of an encore. Seemingly premature and without warning, the lights came on and the doors were opened to send us home.
I suspect that there may have been more than a few people leaving this show scratching their heads and not really saying a lot on the way out the door. There certainly wasn’t the usual post-concert buzz going on as the crowd filed out of the venue. To me, I felt like I had been to a movie and half a concert. I still wanted to have the other half before I went home to bed.
Check out all the photos HERE
