W.A.S.P. Play First Concert in 13 Months Following Blackie Lawless’ Back Surgery
Getting old sucks, but for Blackie Lawless, there seems to finally be some relief from the suckage. Last year, frontman Blackie Lawless of legendary metal band W.A.S.P. suffered a herniated disc from a performance on the band’s 40th anniversary tour which he says was caused by complications from a broken leg that was treated incorrectly by a doctor. Lawless was advised to cancel the tour and go home, but instead continued to perform on the tour while sitting in a chair that he nicknamed Elvis.
Unfortunately, he had to cancel the European leg of the tour because the injury became too much to ignore, and Lawless went on to have surgery on his back. The surgery was a success, but it still sidelined the band from touring for over a year. But, according to Blabbermouth, Lawless and Elvis have re-entered the building. W.A.S.P. performed their first concert in 13 months at Sweden Rock Festival last weekend, with Lawless staying seated throughout the entire show.
In an interview on May 29 with SiriusXM show Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, Lawless talked a little bit about his road to recovery. Here’s what he had to say (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“It’s been a long road. Anytime you go through rehab, and we’ve done it for 35, 40 years, every time you have an injury, you’ve gotta go through rehab. And any athlete will tell you that it’s a lonely walk. Nobody can help you when you do it. You’re with your trainers two hours a day. That leaves you 22 hours of every day to just sit and think in rehab. And a lot of funny things go through your head when you’re doing that. And, like I said, it’s a lonely walk. And it’s incremental, the healing process — you don’t see it all overnight. And when you start with the trainers, they tell you, ‘Just be patient, just be patient,’ because, as any warrior will tell you, your natural instinct is to run, and you just cannot do that when you’ve gone through something that’s pretty serious like that. But we’re getting there. And we’re pretty much up to speed now.”
It seems the band is pretty optimistic about Lawless’ recovery, as they’ve scheduled a tour later this year with Death Angel and Unto Others where W.A.S.P. will be playing their debut self-titled album in its entirety. Catch Lawless and Elvis at the dates below:
10/26 San Luis Obispo, CA Fremont Theater (W.A.S.P. only) [Tickets]
10/28 Portland, OR Roseland Theater [Tickets]
10/29 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre [Tickets]
10/30 Vancouver, BC Vogue Theatre [Tickets]
11/01 Calgary, AB The Palace Theatre [Tickets]
11/02 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory [Tickets]
11/03 Boise, ID Knitting Factory [Tickets]
11/04 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot [Tickets]
11/05 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre [Tickets]
11/07 Minneapolis, MN The Fillmore [Tickets]
11/08 St Charles, IL The Arcada Theatre [Tickets]
11/10 Detroit, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre [Tickets]
11/11 Toronto, ON History [Tickets]
11/13 Montreal, QC MTELUS [Tickets]
11/14 Quebec City, QC Theatre Capitole [Tickets]
11/15 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre [Tickets]
11/16 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center [Tickets]
11/17 Philadelphia, PA Franklin Music Hall [Tickets]
11/19 Cleveland, OH The Agora Theater [Tickets]
11/20 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE [Tickets]
11/21 Stroudsburg, PA The Sherman Theater [Tickets]
11/22 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore [Tickets]
11/23 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore [Tickets]
11/24 Orlando, FL The Plaza Live [Tickets]
11/26 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium [Tickets]
11/27 Atlanta, GA The Eastern [Tickets]
11/29 Houston, TX House Of Blues [Tickets]
11/30 San Antonio, TX Aztec Theatre [Tickets]
12/01 Dallas, TX The Factory in Deep Ellum [Tickets]
12/03 Little Rock, AR The Hall [Tickets]
12/04 Wichita, KS The Cotillion [Tickets]
12/06 Albuquerque, NM REVEL [Tickets]
12/07 Tempe, AZ The Marquee Theatre [Tickets]
12/09 Tucson, AZ The Rialto Theatre [Tickets]
12/10 San Diego, CA House Of Blues [Tickets]
12/11 Reno, NV Grand Sierra Resort and Casino [Tickets]
12/12 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl [Tickets]
12/13 San Francisco, CA The Warfield (no Death Angel) [Tickets]
12/14 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium (no Death Angel) [Tickets]
