Road Reports Archive

Twisted Sister / WASP / LA Guns / Stephen Pearcy
The American Metal Blast
Brookhaven Amphitheater . Long Island, New York, USA

On a humid night out in the sticks of Long Island (Exit 63 on LIE) is where Twisted Sister decided to play their last area appearance headlining the American Metal Blast tour featuring Metal Church, Stephen Pearcey, LA Guns and WASP. I walked in as Metal Church ended and Stephen Pearcey took the stage. Pearcey took the stage with his revamped band and played all old Ratt tunes from “You Think Your Tough” to “Body Talk” which surprised me since he does have solo material and a new CD that no one will buy coming out next month. The band was tight and although Pearcey’s voice was shot he pulled off the old material decently enough.

Next up, LA Guns, never really liked them and if anyone in the audience wanted to be won over by the band’s performance it didn’t happen. To be fair they were without Traci Guns who basically started the band which wasn’t that good with him in it.

So, to turn the show up a notch WASP hit the stage or should I say Blackie Lawless because although the players in the new version of WASP are very good no one knows who they are. Chris Holmes is no longer with the band but Blackie supplies most of the energy and showmanship during the hour long set. Singing behind a giant skeleton shaped microphone Blackie exudes his anger and energy through his bombastic guitar licks along with the catchy tunes that made him a star. “LOVE Machine” and “Wild Child” got the place moving pretty well after being comatose for nearly three hours prior. Lawless gave everybody their money’s worth by not holding back especially when he announced why his band was part of the Filthy Fifteen during the hey day of the Tipper Gore regime, so they played the song that put him on that dubious list of course which was “Animal (F*&k like a beast)”.

So, now with the crowd riled up thanks to Blackie it was time for what became the main event due to the finality of one of the hardest playing bands around which is Twisted Sister. In my opinion I think these guys sold themselves a little short by playing such an out of the way place for their last area appearance but seeing this band for the first time I realized why their shows were so legendary. Dee Schneider was terrific as his energetic performance and in between banter had the crowd mesmerized. The classics “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Want to Rock” sounded awesome as did “Shoot’em Down” and “The Price”. The set lasted about an hour but for that time period Twisted was dead on giving all they had which is what the crowd came to see.


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