Gig Review Armored Saint / W.A.S.P.

Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse – 27 September 2025Armored Saint / W.A.S.P.

Review and Images by Phil Ingham

Still Somebody: W.A.S.P. Leave Manchester Buzzing

Some bands take years to find their groove. W.AS.P.? They kicked the door down with their debut and never looked back. That 1984 album wasn’t just good—it was a flaming chainsaw of shock metal brilliance. So, when the chance arrived to see the album played live in full (well, almost – ‘Animal’ is notably absent again after its brief return for the band’s 40^th Year Anniversary tour in 2023) it was an opportunity not to miss.

The Victoria Warehouse was buzzing. Undoubtedly, most of the crowd were ‘vintage’, reflecting the era when Blackie and the boys were really at their granny-bothering pomp. It was great to see some young blood in there too though, getting to appreciate in the flesh what their parents had surely regaled to them from years gone by.

Support tonight was from the incredible Armored Saint. Hailing from glitzy and glamourous world of LA, their style is far more suited to early 80s Birmingham, UK; riff-heavy, singalong anthems that the crowd lapped up. Armored Saint delivered an eight-song set that spanned their discography, attacking each track with relentless energy and a stage presence defying their billing as support act. They eventually left the stage to a rapturous reception from fans old and new.

A huge cheer arose when the roadies began to set up Blackie Lawless’ iconic ‘Elvis’ microphone stand, it’s skull and skeletal arms dominating a stage bedecked with circus-themed décor. It’s quite the scene even before the band make their entrance.

And, with lights down and intro tape blasting, they do make quite the entrance. Blackie, an imposing figure dressed head to toe in black leather, stands with his back to the crowd and his arms raised. There’s almost a moment of quiet in the venue, until the iconic drum intro of ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’ kicks in and so does the crowd.

Lawless’s instantly recognisable vocals fill the room and are faultless. The man’s pipes are holding up better than most of our knees in the crowd. His performance on stage was a long way from the 2023 tour during which he was battling two herniated discs and a broken vertebra. He stomped, strutted and spun around the stage like it was 1984 again.

Playing the album in song order meant the first two tracks played were killer songs that you’d usually expect to feature much later in a set list. This resulted in a blistering start to the gig which had the arena bouncing from the off and for the rest of the show.

Following ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’ with ‘L.O.V.E Machine’ hits even harder live than on the album.

‘L.O.V.E. Machine’ was a crowd favourite—Manchester gave it the full karaoke treatment. Mike Duda and Aquiles Priester laid down a rhythm section so heavy you could feel it in your gums.

‘B.A.D’ was, well, GREAT.

‘School Daze’ had us pledging allegiance to the riff, and the video screens flashed vintage footage that made you nostalgic for the days of VHS and questionable hair choices.

The screens added a strong dynamic to the overall show. Whether it was old W.A.S.P. videos, horror movies or WW2 footage, the videos further enhanced the stories that were being told so well on stage.

‘Hellion’ came next, with Blackie’s snarling vocals and Doug Blair’s axe work sounding as fresh and dangerous as ever.

A pace change followed, with the moody ‘Sleeping (In The Fire)’, which in 1984 would surely have seen the room filled with lighters held aloft.

Then came regular set-opener ‘On Your Knees’, another massive tune, and the crowd had no time to catch their breath or grab a beer as ‘Tormentor’ and ‘The Torture Never Stops’ wrapped up the album portion with a gallop and a growl.

A quick breather finally arrived, then it was back to the circus—literally, with creepy carnival visuals and the ‘Big Welcome’ intro. The encore was a whistle stop Greatest Hits tour from W.A.S.P.’s other albums.

‘The Electric Circus’ kicked off a rocking medley that included ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ and the gloriously cheesy ‘Scream Until You Like It’ that KISS would have been proud of.

Next, an explosive cover of ‘The Who’s ‘The Real Me’ led into the emotional powerhouse ‘Forever Free’, with the Manchester crowd doing their best backing vocals (some better than others). ‘Headless Children’ closed that section before the band left us with two of the biggest guns yet to be played.

A stunning version of ‘Wild Child’ began with Blackie on stage alone, delivering a much-slowed, emotionally charged version of the fan favourite. After an initial haunting verse, the rest of the band emerged and ignited the track with its signature raw power and intensity.

Lawless took some time to warn the UK about the path he felt it was headed along in terms of censorship and free speech, and in fairness given the band’s shock rock history, he knows more than a little about the subject. But, the tub-thumping was soon replaced with drum-thumping as a raucous version of ‘Blind in Texas’ ended this special gig and turned the venue into a full-blown singalong.

Despite the passing decades, W.A.S.P. put on a show as theatrical, as unapologetically loud and as shocking as ever. It wasn’t just nostalgia – it was proof that the fire still burns. Outside the venue, strangers were high-fiving, grinning and asking a clearly rhetorical “how good was that?!”

Blackie Lawless – still the eternal Wild Child – and brothers-in-metal Priester, Duda and Blair didn’t just revisit history. They made it all over again.

Manchester won’t forget this one in a hurry.

Set List: