W.A.S.P. & KK’s PRIEST – Concert Review with pics & videos – Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL September 22, 2026 #wasp #blackielawless #kkspriest #kkdowning #timripperowens

Special thanks to Michael Brandvold Marketing  for making this review possible!!!

Concert Review & Videos by John Erigo/KAF
ALL Concert pix by Chyrisse from Rock At Night

WASP & KK’s PRIEST are out on tour together in 2026 with an old school 80’s pre MTV metal vibe. Almost like being thrown back in a time machine wear denim, leather and studded gauntlets ruled our wardrobes LOL! The tour made it’s way to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL on September 23, 2026. A packed house got to witness lots of Heavy Metal music with both bands delivering the goods (pun intended – IYKYK LOL!). The show was basically a co-headline event with NO opening band.

KK’s PRIEST started the night. KK Downing as most of you know, the former Judas Priest legendary guitar player, has this new-ish band who have 2 full albums under their belts. KK has recruited his old bandmate in JP to handle vocal duties, none other than TIM RIPPER OWENS. Along with a tight band they roared through Priest classics and a few KK’s Priest songs included.

The set started out with a very “safe” medley of 3 Judas Priest classics – “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” – “Breaking The Law” and “Living After Midnight”. You can’t miss with that opening – hitting every nerve in a true metal fans heart, tapping into commonly known songs and getting the crowd into the show right away. I was kind of surprised the set list was dominated by JP covers – the band has released 2 very good albums with plenty of originals but I guess they opted for the “play to the masses” set list instead. Any time you include “Beyond The Realms Of Death’ AND “Victim Of Changes” in a set, with Ripper hitting all the notes on cue, you’re presenting 2 of THE best Heavy Metal songs EVER written!!! As for their original tunes “Hellfire Thunderbolt” stood as their strongest song. I’d love to see a full headline show with some more of their original songs, but all in all this was an awesome and powerful set. I still don’t get the mass appeal of the JP song “Turbo Lover”, but like I said, a song for the masses to enjoy. I’d rather hear “Genocide”, “Tyrant” or “Sinner”, but that’s because I am old LOL!!! Very enjoyable set by KK’s Priest!!!

SET LIST:

You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (Judas Priest cover)
Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover)
Living After Midnight (Judas Priest cover)
Strike of the Viper
One More Shot at Glory
Hellfire Thunderbolt
Heading Out to the Highway (Judas Priest cover)
Beyond the Realms of Death (Judas Priest cover)
The Sentinel (Judas Priest cover)
Victim of Changes (Judas Priest cover)
Turbo Lover (Judas Priest cover)
Raise Your Fists

BAND MEMBERS:

K.K. Downing – Guitar (former Judas Priest member)
Tim “Ripper” Owens – Lead vocals (former Judas Priest member)
A.J. Mills – Guitar and backing vocals (from Hostile)
Tony Newton – Bass and backing vocals (from Voodoo Six)
Sean Elg – Drums (from Deathriders and Cage)

ALL of the bands links are here —> LINK TREE

Photo from Michael Brandvold Marketing

W.A.S.P. brought their “1984 – Headless” Tour with them showcasing the first 5 years of the band. They came out with great energy as Blackie Lawless climbed up behind his unique “mic stand” belting out songs that really made you you think back to when the band began. ***On a personal note – I got to see them in 1984 when the first album & original line up was still enlisted. Shows with Armored Saint and Metallica as the openers.*** The stage was kind of like the old circus set up (The album “Inside The Electric Circus”) as there were a few video screens amongst banners that were hung above the amps on both sides of the drums. You couldn’t help but headbang and sing along to songs like “On Your Knees”, “I Wanna Be Somebody”, “Wildchild” abd “L.O.V.E. Machine” . For a guy that is 70 years old Blackie still puts on a great show. The set list also included a very old song called “Mr. Cool”. A song Blackie wrote when he was 19. This showed a different side of Blackie’s song writing abilities, a “cool” song (another fully intended pun – LOL!).

SO all in all this show is a MUST see if you are from the old school of metal fans – escort the younger fans and show them what the metal scene looked & sounded like back in the early 1980’s!!!!

SET LIST:

Easy Livin’ (Uriah Heep cover)
Fistful of Diamonds
The Flame
Mr. Cool
On Your Knees
Thunderhead / Forever Free / The Real Me
The Headless Children

Encore:
I Wanna Be Somebody
L.O.V.E. Machine
The Big Welcome
Inside the Electric Circus / I Don’t Need No Doctor
Golgotha/Wild Child
Blind in Texas

 

Band Members:

Blackie Lawless
Doug Blair
Mike Duda
Aquiles Priester

Band Links:

ALL of the bands links can be found here —> Linkie Bio