This report is gonna be as short as the duration of the headline band's set…

The American 'shock' Rock/Metal band had never visited Greece until 2004; on from then W.A.S.P. has paid an approximate annual visit to my country filling the thirst of their fans that eagerly waited for all these years to witness Blackie Lawless and Co. affirming their reputation and future legacy. The ongoing suspicion for pre-recorded parts and valid fact of suppressed setlist did not seem to distract the crowd from finally filling Fuzz Club the time the lights went dim.

CYANIDE4 surely is learning from what the Sweds have successfully doing the last years. A full portion of CRASHDIET and BABYLON BOMBS with the aura of SHOTGUN MESSIAH and the legacy of HANOI ROCKS, the young quartet delivered a 35' show full of sleaze/glam/punkrock tone and successfully received a warm applaud by the crowd after their recital. The sound was quite mediocre and their static motion was not an ideal setup, to be honest, plus the singer should generally consider working hard on his enough off-key discords, but in general CYANIDE4 did their thing quite well and justified their the support band role for the W.A.S.P. show. Many thumbs up for the guitarist who handled his minor slip more than adequately, too.

"They came, they saw, they conquered"… would be a dreaming line for W.A.S.P.'s set. And this was possibly the case for the time the American band was onstage. Still, the sound was quite fuzzy again – I have the impression this is what the band wants in order to preserve a by-default noise justifying Rock-'n'-Roll glamor and hiding mistakes – and the setlist did not hide any surprises (except maybe for "Live To Die Another Day" from last year's "Dominator" album). Add to this the maddening one hour duration of the concert and you can logically draw your own conclusions. Blackie was in good mood in the beginning – he played with the crowd and won throughout the whole set, of course – but he gradually kinda weakened after performing "Wild Child". The rest of the band was in great shape with Doug Blair taking no prisoners as a 6-string torturer (his solo on "The Idol" was more than expressive) and the Duda/Dupke rhythm section was pounding hard leaving no room for criticism. Blackie's voice was in good shape, in regards to what he has offered live the last years, but weakened too as time went by.

Being a huge W.A.S.P. fan, this was one of the most average gigs of my beloved heroes here in Greece. Eleven song for one hour of performance and nothing intriguing in the songs-from-the-past setlist (one thing explains another, though). The current legend of W.A.S.P. lives on, though, and I do see them coming again for a show in the near future.

(photos by Vagia Anagnostou)