40 years ago today (August 28), W.A.S.P. played their very first show at the Woodstock Concert Theater in Anaheim, California, and frontman, Blackie Lawless, has shared his memories.
Says Blackie: “40 Years ago today my life changed. To change in ways I had dreamed, but also to end up different than I had imagined. It’s impossible for anyone to foresee the totality of ways life will change when those dreams become reality. It was 40 years ago today W.A.S.P. played it’s first show, Aug. 28th 1982, at a long gone club called the “Woodstock”. The lineup at that time was Tony Richards on Drums, Chris Holmes on Lead Guitar, myself on Guitar and Vocals and Don Costa on Bass. This was our humble (if you wanna call it that) beginning. Many of you have heard me say that when we first started we never had any intention of ever playing live shows. In Los Angeles at the time it was mostly impossible to get a record deal from only playing live. Ironically, our true intention was only to make records and we knew from having lived in L.A. for such a long time that the only real way to get a record deal was to make the best demo tape you could make. So that’s what we did. We made a demo of songs that would end up being mostly our first album, but we had sent those tapes out to labels a couple of months earlier and we got no response from any of them. So in our impatience, we said, well we think these songs are pretty good, why don’t we take them out and play them live a see what happens. So again, that’s what we did! A month later we would move up into Hollywood at the Troubadour.
“For us that were part of this historic night, the importance of this show cannot be overstated. We were a group of musicians that had no idea of what or how we would look in a live show. All that would come later over the course of the next few weeks. I would like to personally thank the band and all the crew that were involved that night for that first show. All of our destinies would change that night.
“I’ll explain more next month in a segment that I’ll do to mark the first show we did at the Troubadour. For what most of the world knows that’s really where the band began, but this show too is significant because it was the real beginning of the band in its 4 decade long journey. This show would be the first night anyone would hear, ‘Love Machine’, ‘On Your Knees’, ‘Hellion’ and ‘School Daze’. I remember taking the stage that night and thinking, nobody knows who were are and nobody knows these songs. From this night, almost 2 years to the date of the release of our first album, all that would change!”
It is 2024 and W.A.S.P. is celebrating 1984! 40 years ago the landmark debut album from W.A.S.P. was released (August 17, 1984) and the metal world was knocked on their ass.
W.A.S.P.’s “Album One Alive” tour celebrates the debut album by playing the album in its entirety, from start to finish. To give the fans something every week to celebrate W.A.S.P. is giving away:
• 10 pairs of tickets a week for the length of the US tour.
• Silver Award – Blackie is also giving away each week of the tour two personal meet and greets in his dressing room. In HIS dressing room!
• Gold Award – One lucky fan will win Blackie’s personal certified RIAA award for the debut album.
• Platinum Award – And the Grand Prize, one fan and a guest will be provided airfare and a luxury Hollywood hotel to the final show in Los Angeles, meet the band and stay for the after show, end of tour party.
W.A.S.P. can only celebrate 1984 once and they want to do it big! To enter all you have to do is head here and enter your email address.
It was recently announced that Armored Saint will be replacing Death Angel on the tour. W.A.S.P. issued the following statement, “W.A.S.P. is pleased to announce that Armored Saint will now be joining the “Album One Alive” fall 2024 US Tour. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Death Angel will no longer be able to be a part of this tour. We all wish them the best going forward.”
Tickets and VIP packages available here. Dates are listed below.
Tour dates:
October
26 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Fremont Theater*
28 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
29 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
30 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
November
1 – Calgary, AB The Palace Theatre
2 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
3 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
4 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
5 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
7 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
8 – St Charles, IL – The Arcada Theatre
9 – St Charles, IL – The Arcada Theatre
10 – Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
11 – Toronto, ON – History
13 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
14 – Quebec City, QC – Theatre Capitole
15 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre
16 – New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center
17 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
19 – Cleveland, OH – The Agora Theater
20 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
21 – Stroudsburg, PA – The Sherman Theater
22 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
23 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
24 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
26 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
27 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
29 – Houston, TX – House Of Blues
30 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre
December
1 – Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum
3 – Little Rock, AR – The Hall
4 – Wichita, KS – The Cotillion
6 – Albuquerque, NM – Revel
7 – Tempe, AZ – The Marquee Theatre
9 – Tucson, AZ – The Rialto Theatre
10 – San Diego, CA – House Of Blues
11 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort and Casino
12 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl
13 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
14 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
* no support acts