The year is 1982. A band from Los Angeles has a dream. Publish music and tour in front of thousands of fans. And continue to do that for many years to come. With lots of hard work and talent, that dream would come true. And not for just one band, but two! Those bands were W.A.S.P. and Armored Saint. Both bands are celebrating 40 years as bands and what makes it even better is they were touring together as part of that celebration. The chances that two bands from Los Angeles would achieve the same dream and still be at it 40 years later are astronomical. The odds of getting both bands to tour together seemed very feasible, but it almost didn’t happen. Fortunately, it did and one of those stops was at The Plaza Live in Orlando, FL.
The Plaza Live is one of my favorite venues to photograph and see shows. It’s a low stage, with plenty of room for fans, and a cool balcony for those who want to sit and watch. The sound is also excellent there too. This was a great venue choice for W.A.S.P. and Armored Saint. When I pulled into the parking lot, I couldn’t find a spot anywhere, which was very odd. As I looped around the back side of the building, I noticed the line to get in was wrapped around the far side of the building. It started to creep over into a shopping plaza. I literally had to park in that shopping plaza along with other attendees because it was packed! Over the 6 years of photographing shows, I never saw as many fans attend a show at The Plaza Live as that night. I went and picked up my photo pass and ticket and made my way inside. The buzz of the fans inside was loud. There was a massive line waiting for merch, a huge line at the bar, and inside the floor and balcony were packed. Everyone was raring to go and I was super excited as well. This would be my first time getting to see both bands live.
Armored Saint was the opener for the tour. The band started in 1982 and released its first album in 1984 titled March of the Saints. They would get three more albums released before the death of their guitarist Dave Prichard to leukemia. They released Symbol of Salvation in 1991 and dedicated it to Dave. But, in 1992 vocalist John Bush was offered the opportunity to join thrash band Anthrax as their vocalist. He decided to leave Armored Saint and the band eventually disbanded. In 1999, Anthrax went into hiatus and Armored Saint reunited. The band would release seven more albums including their last studio album Punching the Sky in 2020 during the pandemic and Symbol of Salvation: Live in 2021 where the band played the album in its entirety during a tour. Armored Saint consists of John Bush (vocals), Joey Vera (bass), Jeff Duncan (rhythm guitar), Phil Sandoval (lead guitar), Gonzo Sandoval (drums).
Right out of the gate, I was very impressed with Armored Saint. One of my friends, Travis, who is a concert photographer said to me that night before Armored Saint went on “John is the best vocalist in the business.” It’s a bold statement, but it’s hard to disagree with him after hearing him for the first time. John can hit all the notes in every song with such ease and with power behind it too. His voice is so clear too. Phil is the type of guitarist you just have to love. His playing is so smooth but it’s also the personality he puts into his performance. I love guitarists like him who puts style into his guitar playing. He moves around, he grooves, he makes it a show. Jeff plays with intensity and gets the crowd amped up and into the songs. He gets into his music just slightly differently than Phil. Joey is an absolutely wild man on the bass. He’s constantly bouncing, headbanging, and strumming hard on that bass. He even provides an awesome backing vocal. Most importantly, he’s having fun on that stage. Last, and certainly not least, Gonzo not only makes those drums boom, he does it in style. Walking out with a top hat and a smile, the crowd immediately connected with him. And he plays so well behind that kit. This is just the tip of why I love Armored Saint.
Their songs are solid representations of metal music. “Reign of Fire” is a hard rocking, fast-paced, and gets your blood pumping. It was a great choice for their opening song that night. “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” has such a beautiful rhythm and pace. John nailed the vocals and you could see the band really enjoyed performing this one from Punching the Sky. This was one of my favorite songs that night. And they closed it out with “Mad House” getting the fans really moving with horns in the air and fists pumping. Armored Saint put on a phenomenal show that evening.
If you want to check out their music and merch you can find them at https://armoredsaint.com/. Their setlist that night was:
- Reign of Fire
- End of the Attention Span
- Nervous Man
- Last Train Home
- Chemical Euphoria
- Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
- Win Hands Down
- Can U Deliver
- March of the Saint
- Mad House
And then our headliners W.A.S.P. was up to perform. Celebrating their 40th anniversary as well with Armored Saint, they too released their debut album, W.A.S.P. in 1984. They immediately followed up with The Last Command in 1985 and the album was certified Gold in the U.S. The band would release a total of sixteen albums including a two-part album The Neon God in 2004. Their most recent album from 2015 is Golgotha and there was a re-issue titled Reidolized: The Soundtrack to The Crimson Idol. W.A.S.P. is Blackie Lawless (vocals, rhythm guitar), Doug Blair (lead guitar), Mike Duda (bass), and Aquiles Priester (drums).
Their stage was set up like a carnival with all types of odd acts being advertised. There was a massive skull and crossbones mic stand in the center. When the lights dimmed and W.A.S.P. came out and that crowd roared like there was no tomorrow. And I immediately understood why. Blackie rocked the mic and the vocals with such flair. He belted out those lyrics all night as if it was his last show and had that crowd moving. His mic stand rocked back and forth and he pulled on it like he was riding a motorcycle and at one point hopped on top of it urging the crowd to go nuts. And he stepped out from behind the mic to rock the guitar in front of the crowd, which they loved. Doug played like a beast on the guitar with passion and intensity. Numerous times he’d roar at the crowd trying to get them going. And damn he could play with such speed bringing out that metal sound. Mike also played with intensity and swung around in circles with his bass. He was having fun on the stage putting on a show as he played. Aquiles is an excellent drummer hitting those notes with speed and precision. W.A.S.P. sounded awesome.
As for the music, it was absolutely rocking as expected. They kicked off the show with a four-song mash-up of “On Your Knees”, “The Flame”, “The Torture Never Stops”, and “Inside the Electric Circus”. It sounded so natural as they progressed through all four songs and just sounded awesome. But, their setlist that night was just hit after hit. “L.O.V.E. Machine” had the crowd truly engaged as they sang back to Blackie “L-O-V-E!’ during the chorus. Plus it’s a kick-ass song. When the crowd heard the first chords of “Wild Child” they nearly lost their minds. They were singing along with every word and you could see W.A.S.P. loved it. But, W.A.S.P. could ballad with the best of 80s metal bands and they crushed it when they performed “The Idol” with a gorgeous light show and an amazing solo from Doug. Blackie nailed the song perfectly too.
Now, earlier I mentioned that this tour almost didn’t happen. Blackie explained to us during the show that it’s been a while since W.A.S.P. had toured. The reason is that there were promoters who had no faith that W.A.S.P. had any buying power anymore. That they aren’t a draw for the fans to come to see them. Instead, the promoters that did believe in them saw sold-out show, after sold-out show, night after night on this tour. Orlando was a sell-out crowd as well. So Blackie had a message for those who didn’t believe in them: “Suck it!” I agreed with him 100%.
W.A.S.P. played a video that was being displayed in an 80s computer typography about the fight against censorship in music. In 1985 there was a group formed known as the Parents Music Resource Center (PRMC) led by Tipper Gore, who was the wife of Presidential candidate Al Gore. Their goal was to censor music they deemed inappropriate for children for topics of sex, violence, or profanity. They recommended the RIAA institute a rating system much like the Motion Picture Association of America has with movies. There was a Senate hearing over the topic where the PRMC showed examples of inappropriate songs. One of those songs was “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)” by W.A.S.P. While members like Dee Synder from Twisted Sister and Frank Zappa spoke against this idea clearly calling it musicians’ rights being taken away of freedom of speech, the RIAA on their own instituted the Parental Warning label that was nicknamed the Tipper Sticker. W.A.S.P.’s self-titled debut album got the sticker for that song. So of course, they performed it that night loud and proud and the fans sang along with every lyric as loud as they could.
It was such an amazing performance that night from W.A.S.P. and I felt so fortunate to finally be able to see them live. If you want to check out their music and merch head over to https://www.waspnation.com/. Their setlist that night was:
- On Your Knees/The Flame/The Torture Never Stops/Inside the Electric Circus
- L.O.V.E. Machine
- Wild Child
- The Idol
- The Great Misconceptions of Me
- Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)
- Blind in Texas
Encore:
- Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)
- The Real Me (The Who cover)
- I Wanna Be Somebody
A great night of hard metal and a fantastic crowd to support both Armored Saint and W.A.S.P. If you have the opportunity to catch this tour, do it, you will love it.
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