Live Review

W.A.S.P. – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

• 9th Dec 2009

80’s metal stalwarts W.A.S.P. have remained faithful to their glammed-up roots over the twenty-odd years they’ve been around and thus have managed to maintain a healthy level of support – enough to fill out surprisingly sizeable venues like tonight’s – this side of the pond without much exposure of late; the average age of the attendance at the Empire suggests a fan base built mainly of loyalists from the glory days.

But much fresher blood opens proceedings as the Glitterati win over the gathering crowd with their ballsy old-school stylings. Frontman Paul Gautry leads the line with shape-throwing aplomb, supported by a tight group of musicians that radiate a sneering rock n roll presence rare in young bands nowadays. The result is an entertaining half-hour of no-nonsense rock – big riffs and catchy choruses – that cleanses the palette nicely for the main attraction.

Blackie Lawless and co take the stage to a mania ill-matched, on paper, to a glam band from the 80s but the legions of devotees that have turned out, coupled with hair that remains defiantly large, helps to roll back the years. It helps too that the sound tonight is amazing and the set packed with the sort of trashy stadium anthems W.A.S.P. do exceptionally well, all delivered with the tightness of a band that’s been doing this a long time. The new stuff – from this year’s album Babylon – is well-received and reassuringly true to the band’s origins, but its scintillating renditions of classics like ‘Wild Child’ that churn the floor up into a sweaty mass of leather, big hair and pumping fists.