W.A.S.P - Friday 21 September 2012, HMV Forum, London

Now W.A.S.P are one of my favourite bands and when they announced their 30 year anniversary tour I quickly bought my ticket. When I checked their website they promised "elements from early WASP shows". Immediately I thought of the rack with a semi naked woman, exploding codpiece, raw meat and flames. I knew that Blackie wouldn't play "Animal" anymore as he had become a Christian, but the thought of all this appealed to me as I was too young to see them first time around. Did we get this? Sadly not.Was it a good concert? In places; so let me explain. All the signs were good; the Forum was packed (sold out I believe), massive banners,/video screens/high risers. However I think that Blackie had taken a leaf out of Axl Rose book as we had to wait over 45 minutes for them to start. However all was forgotten as soon as the band came on.  The gig was split into 3 parts with the first playing songs from the first 4 albums. Favourites such as  "L.O.V.E . Machine", "Wild Child", "I Wanna Be Somebody" and a medley of "Hellion/I Don't Need No Doctor and Scream Until You Like it". We had video screens as well showing the videos of songs whilst they were being played (although at times they were out of sync!) After a short break, the second part of the gig consisted of a shortened version of the Crimson Idol album. Not one of my favourite albums, and it unfortunately ruined the momentum of first part of the gig. With minimal lighting and the video screens repeating the same video, this was truly a low point for me. The final part of the set they tried to redeem themselves as we had Blackie's infamous moveable microphone stand and songs such as "Widowmaker", "Chainsaw Charlie" and finally finishing with "Blind in Texas". I guess Blackie might be embarrassed by his antics 30 years ago, but tonight we got a 21st century celebration of WASP's career. I guess I'll have to go back to watching Live at the Lyceum to relive those early days. Now where's that video....