1980s hair metal legends W.A.S.P. have announced an almost two month North American tour supported by KK’s Priest, playing the greatest hits from their first four albums, christened the ‘1984 to Headless Tour’. 

The band last year completed a European tour playing the entirety of their eponymous debut album, entitled the ‘Album ONE Alive’ tour. That album, released in 1984 and featuring hits like ‘L.O.V.E. Machine’, the sweeping ballad ‘Sleeping (In The Fire)’ and metal club staple ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’, represented a lasting transition from traditional metal to a glam sound in the American radio rock mainstream during the ‘80s. 

This tour, by contrast, will only include some tracks from the debut, while also incorporating tracks from the rest of their ‘80s output, and thus including The Last Command (1985), Inside the Electric Circus (1986) and The Headless Children (1989), all of which charted on the Billboard 200 in their day. 

The band were known in their classic period for their outrageous live antics, such as lead vocalist Blackie Lawless throwing meat into the audience and wearing a chainsaw codpiece live, forming part of the visual aesthetic which came to define mainstream metal at its ‘80s ‘shock rock’ peak. 

Lawless said in a press release that “it’s hard to express the genuine excitement I’m feeling in describing the ‘1984 To Headless’ U.S. Tour. Playing those songs from those 1st four albums in a combined package like this is something we’ve never attempted before.” He also confirmed that the stage show for this tour will be unique, changing to fit each album cover’s theme. W.A.S.P. in their prime certainly had an aesthetic, bearing classic metal imagery of chains, steel and fire, forming part of what became their renowned image. 

On this tour, W.A.S.P. will be supported by Wolverhampton’s own KK’s Priest, the band founded by guitarist KK Downing after his exit from Judas Priest just over a decade ago, with whom he has released two albums, Sermons of the Sinner (2021) and The Sinner Rides Again (2023). KK’s Priest’s live show features a mix of their own original material and older Judas Priest anthems like ‘Breaking the Law’ and ‘Night Crawler’, fronted by ex-Priest frontman Tim “Ripper” Owens. KK commented that “this is going to be an epic metal and steel tour featuring lots of Priest classics!” 

W.A.S.P on this tour contains just one original member, the aforementioned Lawless, alongside longtime bassist Mike Duda, Doug Blair on guitar, and ex-Angra/Paul Di’Anno drummer Aquiles Priester on drums. 

Tickets for the tour will be released to the general public this Friday, 13 February at 10AM local time across the US before the tour begins on 10 September. 

‘1984 to Headless’ Tour 2026 Dates

• 10/9 – El Cajon, CA – The Magnolia
• 11/9 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
• 12/9 – Riverside, CA – Fox Performing Arts Center
• 13/9 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theater
• 14/9 – Santa Fe, NM – Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino
• 16/9 – Austin, TX – Emos
• 17/9 – Tulsa, OK – Tulsa Theater
• 18/9 – Dallas, TX – House Of Blues
• 19/9 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theater
• 20/9 – Houston, TX – House Of Blues
• 22/9 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
• 23/9 – Daytona, FL – Peabody Auditorium
• 24/9 – Jacksonville, FL – Florida Theater
• 25/9 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
• 26/9 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
• 27/9 – Portland, ME – Aura
• 29/9 – Boston, MA – House Of Blues
• 30/9 – Hampton, NH – Hampton Beach Casino
• 1/10 – Wallington, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre
• 2/10 – New York, NY – The Palladium
• 3/10 – Carteret, NJ – Carteret Performing Arts Center
• 5/10 – Montreal, QC – Mtelus
• 6/10 – Ottawa, ON – Hard Rock Casino
• 7/10 – Pickering, ON – Pickering Casino Resort
• 9/10 – Des Plaines, IL – Des Plaines Theater
• 10/10 – St Charles, IL – Arcada Theater
• 11/10 – St Charles, IL – Arcada Theater
• 13/10 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
• 14/10 – Harrisburg, PA – Capitol City Music Hall
• 15/10 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater
• 16/10 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
• 17/10 – Green Bay, WI – EPIC Event Center
• 19/10 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
• 21/10 – Edmonton, AB – Midway Music Hall
• 22/10 – Calgary, AB – The Palace Theater
• 23/10 – Coquitlam, BC – Great Canadian Casino Vancouver
• 25/10 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theater
• 27/10 – San Jose, CA – San Jose Civic
• 29/10 – Rancho Mirage, CA – The Show at Agua Caliente
• 30/10 – Las Vegas, NV – House Of Blues
• 31/10 – Anaheim, CA – The Grove