W.A.S.P.'s BLACKIE LAWLESS To Play Remaining Shows On European Tour While Seated

W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless, who recently revealed that he has been performing on the band's ongoing European tour with a herniated disc in his lower back, has announced that he will play the remaining five shows on the trek while seated in a chair that will be built into his custom mic stand, which he has nicknamed "Elvis."

In a message posted on Wednesday (May 10) on W.A.S.P.'s official web site, Lawless wrote: "As many of you already know I had a serious setback at the hands of a very unqualified Doctor here in Europe about 2 weeks into the tour. I've been receiving treatment at a hospital in Berlin and that team of Doctors has been nothing short of fantastic. But, at the same time they strongly advised me to stop the tour and go back to L.A. and begin my rehab. But it's hard for them to understand, this is the only 40th Anniversary I'm ever going to get, not to mention the fans that have stood by us this entire time have waited over 3 years, and because of the pandemic suffered 3 different sets of tour postponements.

"I go back to Berlin on Friday for 2 days for more treatments which means both the shows in Italy will be missed. At the start the Doctors there told me without rest and rehab I would definitely get worse. As hard as I've pushed through these shows, they were right. The show last night in Zurich was cut short by 2 songs, and I do apologize for that but the pain reached a point where I could no longer perform and it lasted throughout the entire show. My legs were giving out on me and it got dangerous. I will not be able to stand to do the remaining 5 shows, so the compromise I reached with the Doctors was if I would stay seated, in a chair to do these last 5 then they will give me clearance to finish the tour and do those remaining 5 shows."

The 66-year-old guitarist/vocalist, whose real name is Steven Duren, continued: "I've never done this before, but please understand, my intention is to finish this tour, come hell or high water, and give this incredibly dedicated fan base, that has been with us from the beginning, the show they have all heard about. Plus we're going to build the chair into 'Elvis'. Hey, he's been with us the whole time and he will finish this tour right beside me because he's basically one of the Band.

"But, as frustrating as this all has been I can't wait to get into rehab, and then destroy America.... Again, on the 2nd, and final leg of the '40th Anniversary World Tour'!! We are Coming Back....and we're Coming to Hurt Somebody!!"

W.A.S.P.'s massive European leg of the 40th-anniversary world tour is scheduled to wrap up on May 18 in Sofia, Bulgaria at Universidada Sports Hall.

Last month, W.A.S.P. announced the North American leg of "The 40th Never Stops World Tour 2023". Produced by Live Nation, the 33-city run kicks off on Friday, August 4 at the Fremont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, California, making stops across North America in Vancouver, British Columbia; Omaha, Nebraska; New York City; Memphis, Tennessee and more before wrapping up on Saturday, September 16 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. Special guest ARMORED SAINT will join the band across all dates of the tour.

Blackie Lawless VIP meet-and-greet tickets will be available at WASPnation.com.

W.A.S.P. wrapped up its first U.S. tour in 10 years with a sold-out show on December 11 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. This marked the 18th sold-out shows for the U.S. tour, which kicked off in late October. W.A.S.P.'s performances included the return of the band's classic song "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", which hadn't been played live in over 15 years.

Lawless has led W.A.S.P. as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for four decades. He is joined by bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Doug Blair, whose tenures in the band span 28 and 17 years respectively, along with drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester.

W.A.S.P.'s latest release was "ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)", which came out in February 2018. It was a new version of the band's classic 1992 album "The Crimson Idol", which was re-recorded to accompany the movie of the same name to mark the 25th anniversary of the original LP's release. The re-recorded version also features four songs missing from the original album.

W.A.S.P.'s most recent studio album of all-new original material was 2015's "Golgotha".

W.A.S.P.'s first live performance since December 2019 took place on July 23, 2022 at Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden.