W.A.S.P., KK’S PRIEST-Austin, Texas

Emo’s, September 16, 2026

Influential Hair Metal band, W.A.S.P., came to Austin, Texas as part of a tour dubbed, “1984 To Headless,” which was a set that concentrated on their first four albums. Ex-JUDAS PRIEST member, KK Downing opened the show with his solo project, KK’s Priest. The two played at Emo’s, a medium-sized venue with a huge stage and excellent lighting.

K.K. Downing is one of the original founders of JUDAS PRIEST and is regarded as an essential member of the band. Downing started his solo project in 2019. Former PRIEST member, Tim “Ripper” Owen fronts KK’S PRIEST. A.J. Mills (guitar), Sean Elg (drums) and Anthony Wall (bass) round out the group.

KK’S PRIEST went on an early time of 7 P.M. I missed the first couple of songs, but could hear them play outside in the line to get in. They opened with JUDAS PRIEST’s biggest hit, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin.’” Then, they launched into more hits, “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight.” The group mostly played cover songs, but they did throw in a couple of originals from their most recent album, “The Sinner Rides Again,” released in 2023 via Napalm Records. “Strike of the Viper” is an aggressive song with killer riffs and excellent solos. When Downing was in PRIEST, he and Glenn Tipton formed one of the greatest guitar tandems in Heavy Metal, something not lost with Mills and him. Tim Owens is one of the best singers in HEAVY METAL. He brought experience and energy to his frontman position. While he nailed his lower range, he appeared to utilize backing tracks to help with his highs. For me, the highlight of their set was the dynamic “Beyond the Realms of Death,” which the group did major justice. KK’s PRIEST ended with the epic PRIEST song, “Victim of Changes,” from the “Sad Wings of Destiny” album. KK’S PRIEST proved an excellent band to start off the night for W.A.S.P. They sounded great, had a lot of energy, and the crowd sang along to the PRIEST classic. I apologize for the quality of pictures as I had to shoot from the crowd since my media pass only covered the photo pit for W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. opened with sirens shining in front of their bass drums to the classic THE DOORS song “The End” playing through the PA system. Then, they launched into their rendition of the URIAH HEEP classic song “Easy Living.” It was kind of weird them opening the set with a cover. They also played a cover of THE WHO’s track “The Real Me,” from their “The Headless Children” album. “The Headless Children” song was a highlight from their set due to its heaviness. While the tour made one think they exclusively played songs from the first four albums, they included other songs from their career such as the title track from “Golgotha.” I wasn’t too familiar with their songs from the first part of their set, but they played more familiar songs on the second part of their set. I enjoyed singing along to songs like “I Wanna Be Somebody,” “Wild Child” and closing song “Blind in Texas.” I don’t need to explain why this song went over so well.

Before launching into the song “Mr. Cool,” frontman and bassist, Blackie Lawless spoke about making the song. He said he wrote the song when he was 18, then about a year later the group moved to Los Angeles. The band broke up and then one of the members moved to New York. The ex-member took that demo with him and sold it for 5,000 dollars. Lawless said he didn’t get a penny for it. A couple of years later he made a different version and decided to do it. That same company that had done the deal for 5,000 bucks sued him. He added that he does that song now for himself. Maybe due to Lawless finding religion, the group’s former reputation as a Shock Rock band didn’t really show. Songs like “Sleeping (In the Fire)”, which included a lyric about Lucifer, and sex songs “Harder Faster” and “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)” much to my chagrin, were excluded from the set. Additionally, Lawless didn’t wear his trademark, saw blade cod piece or throw raw meat into the crowd.

W.A.S.P.’s stage set up was awesome. They hung circus tapestries to denote their “Electric Circus” album, which was on display. A huge W.A.S.P. banner with a saw blade with barb wire adorned the back of the stage. Lawless sang into a super cool, tall skeleton mic stand with motorcycle handles at the top. Of course, the lighting and sound was excellent, and the group played with massive volume. While I saw Chris Holmes’ solo project that included W.A.S.P. covers at Hell’s Heroes festival, this was the first time catching W.A.S.P. live. The band doesn’t tour much, so it was a treat to catch them live. I would have liked to have seen them play some of their more vulgar tracks as well as “Sleeping (In the Fire),” but I enjoyed the show overall.

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