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After all this time, W.A.S.P. was finally back in Montreal at the MTelus. This was their first concert in the city since 1992 and many fans still remember when they refused to play at the Foufounes Electrique in 2004. This tour is adequately called Album One Alive as the band is playing their self-titled album in its entirety. As a bonus, fans also have a chance to see Armored Saint as the opening act. 

The evening started with Armored Saint, and the song “End Of The Attention Span”. Fans showed their enthusiasm but you could see that the majority were not there to see them. As usual, Joey Vera is extremely dynamic on stage and he uses every inch that is available to him. Jeff Duncan and Phil Sandoval switch places on countless occasions and interact with the crowd non-stop as John Bush showcases his powerful voice. The diehard fans loved “Nervous Man”, but they sang their lungs out during the classics “Last Train Home” and “March Of The Saint”.  You could see that drummer Gonzo Sandoval was having a blast during this whole set as he was punishing his drums vigorously. 

The crunching guitar riff of “Book Of Blood” was a nice addition to the set and the dual guitar attack of Jeff and Phil was pure joy. John is a pleasure to watch as he is always on the move, but this time he took it to another level as he went to the balcony at the other end of the venue to sing “Can U Deliver”. The hour-long set ended with a bang as fans displayed their appreciation for electrifying “Reign Of Fire” and “Madhouse”. This was their second great show in Montreal this year, but I think it would have been even better if they opted to play an old school set of their own to accompany the one of the headliners.

Now that the crowd was warmed up, it was time for W.A.S.P. to hit the stage and play their self-titled album. Unexpectedly, fans were told that crowd surfing was banned for this performance and that the perpetrators would be expelled from the venue. There are no surprises here, the band play the album in the same running order as on the records. Blackie Lawless mentioned that he initially wanted to play the songs in a different order but he was convinced otherwise. The crowd instantly went ballistic when they heard “I Wanna Be Somebody”. Blackie rapidly hid behind Elvis, his huge microphone stand, and sadly, this is where he will be most of the night. Mike Duda and Doug Blair trade places on a regular basis but Doug’s energy is simply captivating and you can end up focusing on him for a long time. 

Many songs from this album were never played in a concert or only during that album tour, so it was great to hear “The Flame”, “B.A.D.”, “School Daze” and “Tormentor”. I must say that Blackie looked in great shape and that his voice was powerful, he interacted with the crowd a few times to say that we were being part of history. Fans sang loudly the chorus of “Hellion” as we could see excerpts of the music video on the screens in the back of the stage. “Sleeping (In The Fire)” was definitely the highlight of the night and gave chills to everyone as Doug blew the roof off with his extended guitar solo. 

It was a good idea to show all that live footage on the screen during the second half of the album, but at the same time, seeing Randy Piper and Chris Holmes on screen made me think how great it would have been to see them both on stage with Blackie once again. Like a flash, “The Torture Never Stops” was being played and the crowd went wild for that last album song.

After a short break and a few stage adjustments to make it feel more like a circus, the band came back with the medley of ‘Inside The Electric Circus / I Don't Need No Doctor / Scream Until You Like It’ that was quickly followed by ‘The Real Me’. At this point the band put the pedal to the metal and played all their biggest hits in succession, like they wanted to get it over with as fast as possible. The ballad “Forever Free” was another bone-chilling moment, event if it was cut short and mixed with “Headless Children”. 

That song was probably the hardest to sing for Blackie, be he still did a good job on it. Aquiles Priester’s drumming on that song was simply outstanding, but it was a shame that he was so far back that you could barely see him do his magic. Blackie did an acapella introduction of “Wild Child” before the rest of the band joined him on stage to play this amazing song and they closed the night with “Blind In Texas”. 

If anyone is on the fence about seeing this tour, let me tell you that you will be glad you went. This is a chance of a lifetime to feel the same excitement that you had when you heard that album for the first time all those years ago. With the huge success of this tour, I really hope that Blackie will think about celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Last Command next year.