The fine art of asskicking
Haugesund isn’t a particularly large city, and hence is often deprived of many of the benefits of big city life. The lack of good concerts has long been a pet irk of mine. But things have apparently changed! Earlier this week, Bryan Adams came to town - and while he’s not anywhere near my cup of tea, nobody can argue that he’s not a big name. Yesterday, however, glam-, hair- and horror metal veterans W.A.S.P. dropped by, which is right up my alley!
And boy, do they still know their stuff! (I use the term “they” loosely, since the main song-writer and vocalist, Blackie Lawless, is the only one remaining of the original line-up, but the rest of the band did a great job as well.) What really sold the gig for me was the play list. Almost nothing but golden oldies, from the early 90s and back to the very beginning, which is exactly when I discovered the band. Except for one track, which was brand new, it was like a live “best of” compilation. Perfect!
The band also put the scaremongering pietists to shame and delivered nothing but a rock solid concert, almost devoid of special effects. I say almost, because the microphone stand was a sight to behold! (The local newspaper claimed that seeing the stand was worth the entry fee alone.) The band’s show in the earlier days included liberal amounts of skulls and fake blood, but that was how you provoked back then. An image like that would be nothing but cheesy these days, I suppose. (On a related note, I wish the black metal bands would lose the ridiculous corpse paint. Yes, yes, I know they’re supposed to look “dead” and all, but we all know they really aren’t!)
Conclusion: Top score from me. Minus one small point for not playing a longer set. 70 minutes (or so) was a bit too short for my tastes. Oh well.
PS! One things that certainly should not go unmentioned is their support band for the Norwegian gigs, Triosphere. Thunderous and powerful heavy metal, just the way your deity of choice intended it to be. (I guess this is a good time to admit that I tend to be a sucker for metal bands fronted by women. But only the good ones! (Good bands, that is. Ahum.)) Anyway, their debut album is out in October. Do check it out. I know I will!