Over the weekend, ’80s heavy metal band W.A.S.P. went viral for all the wrong reasons.
The shock rockers got massive online attention for performing their New York City show on Saturday against an ultra-cringey pro-Trump stage setup. The question now is whether they’ll bring that same set to San Antonio when the group plays the Aztec Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 30.
W.A.S.P.’s boot-licking display at Hammerstein Ballroom featured Trump banners flanking the stage. Behind the band hung the image of the president-elect with his fist raised after July’s assassination attempt near Butler, Pennsylvania.
“We are in the appropriate city to do this,” W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless said from the stage, according to multiple news reports.
It seems likely the band — known for cashing in on the ’80s “satanic panic” by wearing circular-saw codpieces and drinking fake blood from a skull — chose solidly blue NYC for the elevated antagonism factor.
It remains to be seen whether the band opted for the display as a one-off or whether it will be in use for the rest of the One Alive tour, which has 31 more dates before its conclusion in Belgium next year.
According to a report from the show by music site Blabbermouth, the Trump banners were unfurled and Lawless launched into a long political rant before performing the closing song, “Blind in Texas.”
“You know, it was Shakespeare that said, ‘Some are born to greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them,” he reportedly told the crowd of Trump.
Insert eyeroll here.
Lawless, who once outlandishly compared himself to controversial — but, uh, markedly different author of Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie during a radio interview — is known for such bold comparisons. Still, he struck a hilariously full-of-shit note by name-dropping Herodotus at Saturday’s show while gushing about the nation’s 45th, and soon-to-be 47th, president.
Not very metal to praise a would-be dictator, and hilarious that Lawless can see himself as a rebel while talking “please-tread-on-me” tripe.
Formed in the early 1980s, W.A.S.P is best known for tracks like “Animal (F*** Like a Beast),” “I Wanna Be Somebody” and “Wild Child.” Its current lineup includes Lawless, Doug Blair, Mike Duda and Aquiles Priester.
Tickets to the band’s San Antonio show start at $53 and are available through Live Nation, though it’s a good bet some folks might be looking to sell their tickets after last weekend’s display.
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This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2024.
