RELEIGH, NC | Some Friday nights get circled on the calendar months in advance, and for the metal faithful of Raleigh, September 25 was one of them. W.A.S.P. rolled the 1984 To Headless tour into The Ritz with KK’s Priest along as very special guests—two bands carrying a serious share of heavy metal history. Nobody walked in expecting a quiet night. Nobody expected just how loud it would get, either.
Raleighwood showed up, and W.A.S.P. and KK’s Priest brought the wall of sound. When I arrived, people had been lining up since a little after lunch, mostly clad in all black, battle vests, and studs, and ready to rock.
KK’s Priest came out and wasted no time, busting out hit after hit with some of the biggest songs first: “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” “Breaking the Law,” and “Living After Midnight.” With former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing leading the charge and Tim “Ripper” Owens on vocals, the band dug deeper into the Priest catalog Downing helped build with “Beyond the Realms of Death,” “Victim of Changes,” and “Turbo Lover,” and mixed in their own “Hellfire Thunderbolt” and “Raise Your Fists.”
The energetic and very loud crowd showed the kind of love usually reserved for the last band of the night. The band mentioned they were recording all the shows, and Raleigh may just be the loudest. There was no doubt that people had been planning for this Friday night for a long time.
Then W.A.S.P. came on stage and brought a decibel level I have never experienced at The Ritz. This ranked as one of the loudest shows I’ve ever experienced, and 100% the loudest at this venue. The tour is built around the band’s first four albums, W.A.S.P., The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, and The Headless Children.
They opened with their cover of Uriah Heep’s “Easy Livin’” before tearing into “Fistful of Diamonds,” “The Flame,” and “On Your Knees.” “Mr. Cool,” a song from Blackie Lawless’s days before W.A.S.P. that later grew into “Cries in the Night,” gave the diehards something they had never heard live before this tour.
The middle of the night belonged to The Headless Children, with “Thunderhead,” “Forever Free,” their take on The Who’s “The Real Me,” and the title track. Once again, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy, pushing forward to get a good look at Lawless and singing along to favorites that stretched back to the ’80s.
When “I Wanna Be Somebody” hit, the whole room was singing, and “L.O.V.E. Machine,” “The Big Welcome,” “Inside the Electric Circus,” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor” kept the pressure on. “Golgotha” gave way to “Wild Child” before “Blind in Texas” closed out the night. Their VIPs were in the pit with me, having the time of their lives capturing the magic.
All in all, it was a great night of metal, and the crowd was left wanting more. The tour rolls on through Halloween, so there is still time to catch it.
KK’S PRIEST
