Heavy metal veterans W.A.S.P.’s concert at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday (November 16th) turned into a quasi-rally for president-elect Donald Trump leading into the final song of the night.
W.A.S.P. are currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut, performing the LP in its entirety before playing an encore of songs from other albums. Just prior to playing the evening’s final song, “Blind in Texas,” frontman Blackie Lawless addressed the crowd, eventually referencing the fact that Trump was down the street at a UFC event in Madison Square Garden. The singer’s full speech (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), reads as follows:
“We’ll do something a little different tonight. We are in the appropriate city to do this. You know, it was Shakespeare that said, ‘Some are born to greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them.’ It was the Greek historian Herodotus who said that when it comes to tragedy and things like that, that we do not rule circumstances, circumstances rule us.
Now when I was a little kid, growing up across the bay over here in Staten Island, I never, I never ever imagined that my time would come where I would be thrust into a situation where I had no control over. Now, it will be 40 years next year, there was a situation that happened, and it was called the PMRC. And there were hearings, there were hearings done in Washington, D.C. And two days later, Frank Zappa and myself stood on a stage just around the corner here and we talked about the evils that would come about them. Because censorship is an ugly, ugly thing. And it ain’t just in music. It happens in all forms of life.
Now, down the street here in lower Manhattan, there’s a chapel down there. It’s called the St. Paul’s Chapel. We now know it as the chapel from 9-11. But before that, when George Washington was elected the first president of the United States, after he was sworn in the federal building, he walked into that street and he walked down to that chapel and he consecrated the United States of America to God Almighty right there on that spot.
The very first amendment of our constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Our founding fathers were genius enough to know that if you can control speech, you can control thought. And these men knew this. These were great men. Fast forward a couple hundred years, 250 almost, now we have a situation in the last six, eight years, we find censorship again rearing its ugly, ugly head. Now, this time it’s on the Internet, and it’s affecting every single one of us.
Tonight, you may not be aware, but right next door to us over here in the Garden, there is a man who has undergone attempt after attempt, assassinations on his life, and this man has stood up for this country. He’s right next door right now at the Garden. Now, I got two things that I’m passionate about the most. One of them is that freedom of speech. And the other one is about being a patriot. Because I’m here to tell you, I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, Independent, you need to be a patriot of this country. I am willing to die for this country. I believe in it that much. And that man next door, he believes in it, too.
I only got one more thing to say before we go. ‘Cause I’m blind in Texas.”
At the conclusion of Lawless’ speech, the band launched into “Blind in Texas” as a few crew members pulled away the existing backdrop to reveal four giant “Trump 2024” banners, while the video screen displayed a photo of Trump raising his fist in the air following the assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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The stage looked like a full-on rally for Donald Trump during the entire final song, garnering a mixed reaction from the crowd. Some cheered and pumped their fists, while others gave Lawless the middle finger.
Watch Blackie Lawless’ onstage speech and W.A.S.P.’s performance of “Blind in Texas” in New York City below.
