WASP, live at The Academy

Sometimes you have all the right notes but not played in the right order. Veteran schlock rockers WASP's Dublin appearance was a curious affair. All the elements were present: an explosive start, a packed venue, a raucous crowd (more beer seemed to be sent airborne than down necks) ans yet it was a gig that started with a bang and ended with something of an anti-climactic whimper.
Setting the tone with classic openers ‘On Your Knees’ and ‘Love Machine’, the band whipped the crowd into a frenzy before five songs later (a 50-minute set in total), just as things were cooking, it was, “Good night Dublin” and a bewildered audience were left scratching their collective sweat-matted heads.
An encore of ‘Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)’, ‘Heaven’s Hung In Black’ and ‘Blind In Texas’ followed that further muted proceedings rather than left things on a high. So what was the problem?
Well, the band were, tight, slick, energetic and obviously tour-hardened, and in the figure of Blackie Lawless they have one of metal’s most iconic frontmen. Unfortunately the whole performance had the air of over-orchestration (almost a carbon copy of last year’s more engaging gig at The Button Factory) that lacked any sense of emotional connection and felt like a case of, “What city are we in?” autopilot. The tour, on the back of last year’s (inconsistent) Babylon album, the band's fourteenth studio release, was billed as a celebration of 28 years of metal mayhem (rather odd in itself – or did I miss the memo on anniversary listings?) and would seem to have influenced the choice of backdrop.
Throughout, a screen played the band’s videos from the heady days when metal ruled the MTV rotation lists. We got to see a younger Blackie on screen with an older Blackie on stage – kind of like watching photoshop in reverse. However, if this seemed mildly disconcerting, the more recent ‘Live to Die Another Day’ was accompanied by a montage of clips from classic Westerns such as The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Magnificent Seven. Rock stars as cowboy outlaws? As John Wayne’s iconic Ethan Edwards drawled in The Searchers, “That’ll be the day.”