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Hair Metal Happy Hour

W.A.S.P. SMASH!

 Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 1:00pm by

Whoops, wrong kind of wasp.

W.A.S.P. are on tour right now. W.A.S.P. were supposed to play here in NYC last Thursday night. Even though DEP and Shrinebuilder were playing that very same evening, W.A.S.P. somehow managed to wrangle in five-hundred fans for their gig. So what did W.A.S.P. do? W.A.S.P. canceled their show at the very last second, when most concert goers were apparently already at the venue. Nice going, W.A.S.P.

But now W.A.S.P. have released a statement regarding W.A.S.P.’s cancellation. And W.A.S.P. apparently like to see W.A.S.P.’s own band name written out a lot. Take a look for yourself:

“An unfortunate incident arose this evening at the Gramercy Theater in New York City that we need to let you know about. It prevented W.A.S.P. from performing this show, and caused us to disappoint many of our New York fans and friends.

“About 50 VIP tickets were sold to about 50 different fans for $50.00 apiece, twice the normal ticket price for this show. It turned out that part of that VIP ticket price included a meet-and-greet with W.A.S.P. These tickets were sold to these 50 or so fans without W.A.S.P. having any knowledge of this, let alone agreeing to this.

“Upon learning of this late in the afternoon of the show day, W.A.S.P. insisted that the promoter of this venue, who sold these VIP tickets to these fans, return the VIP portion of those tickets back to the fans. This meant that the promoter would have had to give each of those VIP ticket holders a refund of $25.00 of each ticket. W.A.S.P. demanded that this $25.00 be returned to each of these ticket holders in cash prior to the meet-and-greet , which W.A.S.P. was still going to do. The promoter refused. W.A.S.P. then informed the promoter unless these monies were refunded to these fans, in cash, that the band would not perform the show. Again, the promoter refused and W.A.S.P. canceled the show.

“We are saddened that it had to result in the cancellation of our performance for this evening, but we believe this unfortunate situation amounts to nothing more than our fans being ripped off.

“We have never changed a fan for an autograph and WILL NEVER charge any fans for an autograph.

“To all the fans that came to the show and were turned away, please accept our sincerest apologies. W.A.S.P. CANNOT and WILL NOT ever stand by and watch or be involved in their fans being ripped off… EVER.”

MetalSucks is of two minds about this. On the one hand, it’s good that W.A.S.P. don’t want to charge fans for autographs. (A lot of bands are doing that these days, and MetalSucks thinks it’s a load of crap.) And while MetalSucks’ cynicism makes MetalSucks want to say “They were probably just pissed that they didn’t get their cut,” W.A.S.P. apparently stood out by their tour bus giving free autographs after the cancellation was announced, so W.A.S.P. is probably being truthful in this instance.

On the other hand, MetalSucks thinks that W.A.S.P. let down a lot of W.A.S.P. fans at a time when W.A.S.P. can’t really afford to alienate anyone, and MetalSucks supposes that those “VIP” W.A.S.P. fans were clearly willing to pay a little extra to meet the band, so maybe MetalSucks thinks that maybe W.A.S.P. should have sucked it up and just played. Especially when MetalSucks considers that in trying to save fifty W.A.S.P. fans fifty bucks each, W.A.S.P. probably cost five-hundred W.A.S.P. fans five bucks each, assuming all those W.A.S.P. fans bought their tickets whatever ticketing site the venue was using.

What do MetalSucks readers think of MetalSucks’ assesment? Did W.A.S.P. do the right thing or should the W.A.S.P. show have gone on?

-AR

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-J-Henningsgard/1024517365 Steven J. Henningsgard

    W.A.S.P.

    • Lordassenfroth

      w.a.s.p

  • Sacajawea

    I feel they did the right thing. No elaboration needed.

  • Fufkin

    I see W.A.S.P’s point to some degree, even though W.A.S.P have earned a reputation for being flakey elsewhere with cancellations. And in not playing at all it’s kind of a contradiction W.A.S.P’s ‘for the fans’ ethos.
    All the W.A.S.P fans in NYC lost out. Especially if the promoter then fails to refund any of them.
    They would have been stung twice by disappointment.

  • GoindDeaf?

    It seems WASP had good intentions, but didn’t really make the best move. If they were so concerned about their fans being screwed over, why didn’t they just refund the $1250 to the 50 VIP fans themselves?

    It was probably in their contract that they are liable if they cancel, so the promoter probably doesn’t get screwed here, the fans do.

    • http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/ Alkahest

      I doubt WASP have that much money to just give out willy nilly these days. But again, they should have just sucked it up and played.

      Cancelling the whole show is cutting off your face to save your nose. Everyone’s out money then.

  • DruM

    Dru thinks that MetalSucks assessment of W.A.S.P.’s actions after W.A.S.P discovered that W.A.S.P fans were being ripped off due to an arrangement unapproved by W.A.S.P. and those who represent the W.A.S.P. party, is an assessment approved by Dru and those associated with Dru.

  • Gunt, hey fat chick!

    I think these guys are a little full of themselves. More fans were ripped off because they didn’t play at all, than the 50 fans that thought this band was worth more than $25. There was obviously something else at play here; or maybe W.A.S.P. was just too dam stubborn about losing an argument to a promoter because they think 25+ years of mediocrity warrant a rockstar persona.

  • Chip Northcutt

    Blackie really showed that promoter he is a Badass. Blackie really showed the fans what he thinks of them. I’m afraid if he valued the fans he could have played the gig, This decision is impossible to come to without huge portion of Ego applied by Mr Duren.

  • http://www.theoppositionmachine.wordpress.com the opposition machine

    WASP. a buddy of mine signed up for something similar on the last down tour…it actually made him like down less….not only was the whole thing handled terribly but apparently once he met the band he said bower and anselmo were total dicks *which doesnt surprise me really*

  • Biff Tannen

    ” let down a lot of W.A.S.P. fans at a time when W.A.S.P. can’t really afford to alienate anyone,”

    What a stupid fucking statement. You yourself even said at the beginning of the article that WASP managed to sell 5oo tix to a gig ON A WEEKNIGHT, even with other shows going on that night. WASP sold over 700 tix the previous thursday in Chicago. I was one of them. That show was packed , butts to nuts, and everyone there was singing EVERY WORD right along with Blackie.

    WASP is a killer band and put on one of the best live shows around.

    That being said, I think WASP should have played the show….bad move on Blackie or whomever made the call’s part. Why dissapoint 500 people ??????

  • Sammy

    Sammy has to agree with Axl regarding the dichotomy of feelings he has, as does Sammy, re: W.A.S.P.’s reaction. But there’s a third side to this. Sammy thinks the fans were actually lucky they didn’t have to listen to W.A.S.P.

  • Robotscythe

    Blackie has earned himself a well-known reputation for cancelling shows at the last second for stupid reasons (one of the biggest afew years ago was his riduculously big mic stand wouldn’t fit in mosy of the venues they were playing).

    Maybe this reason is legit this time, but Blackie calling off a show at the zero hour is old-hat for W.A.S.P. “The show must go on” doesn’t belong in the W.A,S,P. lexicon. Blackie would rather disappoint his fans than actually play the gig by making the neccessary alterations to the stage.

  • Who Gives A Damn

    All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P. All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P.

    All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P.
    All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P.
    All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P.
    All W.A.S.P. and no play make W.A.S.P. a dull W.A.S.P.

  • Derek

    WHO GIVES A SHIT!

    White Lion kicked moar ass than these guys

  • g man

    500 people showed up for W.A.S.P. ?

    • Mark

      I get the motive for the ultimatum, but as far as I’m concerned, the promoter called their bluff, they should’ve backed down and just played the gig anyway. They’re actually brilliant live in a small venue, it’s a shame that those people lost out!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Devon-Czekaj/550092101 Devon Czekaj

    They care so much about their fans that they cancel the show…sure that makes sense.

  • C.

    Oh, W.A.S.P. doesn’t want to rip its fans (no doubt an endangered species if ever there was one)? Funny, it looks like they ripped off about 500 of them that night. Shoulda gone to see Wolves In The Throne Room, folks.

  • martin

    well shows in mexico, bogota, lima all cancelled. no reason in the web of wasp. bad communication. for me all these cancelations have something very strange in it. i mean come on the nyc show it is on the limit to understand but with these new cancellations i think there is a hidden issue by the band. for me this is pretty clear now. i do not believe them anything.