W.A.S.P. played Milwaukee's Pabst Theater on Oct. 16 for a show that doubled as a history lesson in shock rock, with songs pulled exclusively from the band's first four studio albums and a once-forbidden track that frontman Blackie Lawless refused to sing for 16 years. The band was scheduled to take the stage at 144 E. Wells St. between 8 and 10 p.m. Special guest KK's Priest, featuring former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing and former Judas Priest vocalist Tim Ripper Owens, opened the night.
The tour, billed as 1984 To Headless, draws its setlist entirely from W.A.S.P.'s run of albums released between 1984 and 1989: W.A.S.P., The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, and The Headless Children, according to TicketNews. It's the first time the band has combined material from all four of those debut-era records into a single production, per the same outlet. The Milwaukee stop fell near the end of a North American run that began September 10 in El Cajon, California, and wraps October 31 in Anaheim.
According to Urban Milwaukee, W.A.S.P. was founded by Lawless, who has served as the band's lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. The outlet notes the group has performed in small Los Angeles venues and in numerous countries worldwide, selling millions of records and maintaining a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for four decades. That same reporting states some countries banned the band from performing live altogether, and that W.A.S.P.'s style prompted religious organizations, local city councils, parliaments, and the Washington, D.C. Senate to hold hearings aimed at barring the band from selling records.
A Song the PMRC Tried to Bury
That Senate scrutiny traces directly back to one track. In 1985, the Parents Music Resource Center placed W.A.S.P.'s song Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) on its Filthy Fifteen list of objectionable songs, a move that led to U.S. Senate hearings and ultimately the creation of the Parental Advisory warning sticker, as detailed by The Guardian. The PMRC was co-founded by Tipper Gore and Susan Baker.
The pressure arrived even before the hearings. Capitol Records pulled the song from W.A.S.P.'s self-titled 1984 debut, forcing the band to release it independently in the United Kingdom through Music For Nations, according to Loudwire. The track wasn't restored to the official album until a 1998 CD reissue.
Lawless's 16-Year Silence, Then a Return
The song's history took another turn with Lawless himself. After becoming a born-again Christian, he refrained from performing Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) live for 16 years starting in 2006, citing his religious convictions, Loudwire reported. He brought the song back into live setlists in late 2022, a reversal that now sets up its place in a tour explicitly built around the band's earliest, most confrontational material.
Inside a Landmark Built for Opera, Not Metal
The venue that hosted the Oct. 16 show carries its own weight of history. The Pabst Theater, built in 1895 by brewing magnate Captain Frederick Pabst and designed by architect Otto Strack in European opera house style, seats 1,339 people across its floor and two balconies, according to the Pabst Theater Group. The building, rebuilt after an 1895 fire destroyed its predecessor, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 and is recognized as the fourth-oldest continuously operating theater in the United States, per Wikipedia.
The Pabst Theater is a historic venue that hosted W.A.S.P.'s Oct. 16 show.
W.A.S.P.'s Oct. 16 pairing with KK's Priest adds to a steady stream of veteran touring acts passing through the historic room this year, following an August stop from the Marshall Tucker Band and ahead of two Pabst shows from Brandi Carlile on November 14 and 15. Doors for the 1984 To Headless show opened ahead of the 8 p.m. start, with the Pabst Theater box office reachable at 414-242-8200 for ticket and seating questions.
