W.A.S.P.,В 
Shecky & The Bloodrain
17.11.2009, 'Hristo Botev' hall, Sofia - Bulgaria

words byВ Stefan YordanovВ - Stiff, photo: Georgi Georgiev

Bulgarian metalheads just love W.A.S.P.! This is the inevitable conclusion from this 4th visit of Blackie Lawless and his gang here in this country.

24 years after the controversial debut album, which in a way triggered plenty of reasons for PMRC fanatics to look for political tools to censorship the rock’n’roll aesthetics, Blackie is alive and kicking asses. He even wears his early day’s attributes as a substantial part of his stage persona.

It was long ago when our colleague Howard Johnson from the British weekly institution ‘Kerrang!’ transcribed ironically W.A.S.P as We Are Still Practicing. Howard is gone now. 24 years are almost a quarter of a century. It’s been a while. Gone are many journalists and bands. Gone are the weak. Only the strong remain still strong. Even though  now W.A.S.P. do not look like the same way when they started, the band of free-lancers Blackie has under his control now seems to be a prefect example of how in some cases one person leadership works better than democracy (one could also mention Megadeth and Soulfly here)..

But on the topic again. Tonight it’s backed up with people and cars around ‘Hristo Botev’ hall. It seems the gig has REALLY been sold out and it’s not a hype trick of the promoters or something. It’s almost 8.00 PM. There are a lot of people in front of the hall asking for tickets and looking for opportunities to get in. Suspicious individuals are selling bootleg scarves and tickets (!) in some dark places around. It’s always been quite dark in Bulgaria, but it amazes me how dark is around this particular hall now. It was the same some 10 years ago by the way.

20 minutes later you could see crying people being thrown away from the entrances. Mainly women still holding tight their fake tickets and screaming the way only a fat metalhead woman can scream. One of them is so hysterical, that I have to turn my face in other direction. It’s a disgusting picture, believe me. The rumors say some really smart people sell tickets for sky-high prices. Not bad, I think.

May be I should do the same next time and get rich instead of writing lousy reports. Actually it’s quite a topic. In Bulgaria people avoid buying tickets until the day of the gig, because here we have sad history of cancelled gigs and cheating promoters. Still it doesn’t excuse anybody who really wants to go to a gig and waits for so long that eventually in the end the venue is sold out.

Meanwhile the support act Sheky and the Bloodrain have occupied the stage. Sheky’ shrieks are lethal to virgin ears. This guy is known to many with his legenday phrase “do you want me to puke for you people?” His hair reminds me of Ozzy circa ‘The Ultimate Sin’.

40 minutes later there still many people around the entrances of the hall, drunks and others. A few attractive ladies are trying get some attention from the security guards in order to get in. Sorry, babes, it’s not 70’s any more.

I don’t know how many of you have seen how it rains in ‘Hristo Botev’ hall when it’s packed up with people. This happens because of the condense air and I have seen it. Tonight it seems this miracle is going to happen again. With the first chords of ‘On Your Knees’ the crowd goes mental. This is the audience Blackie remembers from his first concert over here. There are so many voices singing that you can easily double the people inside. Wow! This is not accidental.

W.A.S.P. Judging by the reaction of the audience to the second track this evening, ‘L.O.V.E. Machine’, it easily becomes clear that the tendency of singing along won’t stop until the end of this gig. The new W.A.S.P. studio effort ‘Babylon’ is scarcely represented (only ‘Crazy’ and the title song е), but they were executed in a very visual way so even the people who had not heard it yet, could be interested. Actually the set list is arranged very aptly, first the early period with ‘Hellion’ and ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ and then 3 compositions from the Bulgarian beloved and very avoidable elsewhere The Who’s ‘Tommy’ clone ‘The Crimson Idol’. The official part ends with ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’, while the first encore is a little bit surprising. It’s ‘Heaven Hung In Black’ from the previous album ‘Dominator’. A really emotional and strong one I have to say. ‘Blind In Texas’ puts the end of this show in a very predictable manner. It’s OK although I can’t help wondering what about at least 5 albums which Blackie never plays anything off. Instead of 3 ‘The Crimson Idol’ songs he could play some off ‘The Headless Children’ ( ‘The Real Me’doesn’t count because it’s a The Who cover).

Последно, In the end, Bulgaria obviously loves W.A.S.P., but it’s no less vice-versa. For several years we managed to get the band 4 times while this summer in Belgium I met people from Australia who traveled from The Down Under to the GMM 09 festival just to see Blackie. What can I say? We’re lucky bastards, aren’t we!

GALLERY