It’s hard to believe that Wednesday 13 has been active in the music scene for over two decades now! Making a name for himself in North Carolina with the bands Maniac Spider Trash and Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 he caught the eye of Slipknot’s Joey Jordison with who he formed the band Murderdolls. After the demise of the super-group he has forged a successful solo career under the moniker Wednesday 13 and even spawned two side bands (Bourbon Crow and Gunfire 76). Him being a constant touring musician I have never fully understood why he isn’t more iconic than he is but in some ways he may be luckier than the other well-known bands as, by the excitement in the room, I could clearly see that he has a very loyal and dedicated fan base. After performing his current tour set list the previous night this is the show the majority of his fans were waiting for; to hear his 2006 album ‘Fang Bang’ played in full.
The lights went down and there was a few minutes wait (which only enhanced any anticipation) before the band and the man himself stormed straight into the album’s opening track ‘Morgue Than Words’. Speaking briefly after the first couple of songs to acknowledge the ten-year anniversary of his album he then continued to play the album in order up until ‘Faith in the Devil’. He moved some of the later tracks around; finally ending on Curse of Me and Die Sci-Fi but didn’t miss a single song out (unless you count any of the bonus tracks).
After the short forty-five minute album the band gave us more for our money and went straight into the previous album’s song ‘The Ghost of Vincent Price’ and, honestly, I couldn’t fault his vocals. Maybe his vocals have gotten better, maybe it’s the eeriness of the Halloween weekend or maybe it’s a mix of both? Either way the rasp in his voice sent shivers down my spine.
The only thing I could see as a flaw is, if any of you have seen him on tour pre-2010, you’ll know that his tongue-in-cheek personality comes out when he addresses the crowd and the humorous stage props (skulls on sticks, a member of his road crew wearing a Jason Voorhees mask, a black umbrella with the words FUCK written in white paint, to name a few…) made him really stand out as a must-see live band.
Still, during the show while I was pining for the old props, Wednesday did shock me by ending on ‘Rambo’! Not only have I not seen him play that song in years he’s goes a step further and brings out what looks like his old laser-pointing Rambo gun! Maybe I was a bit too quick to judge? But it’s not the end of the show just yet.
The encore starts off with a comical spoken track of how useful the word “fuck” is in the English language that naturally takes us into ‘I Love to Say Fuck’ and gets the whole crowd chanting and directing their middle fingers towards the main stage. I can tell you now there is little I can think of that gives a better feeling than chanting “FUCK” in unison with 500+ people!
After that therapeutic episode and another satisfyingly lyrical song named ‘Bad Things’ Wednesday finally ends the night by thanking us for supporting him for all of these years and getting us to pinkie promise to come and see him on his next tour (his seventh solo album, ‘Condolences’ is released next year).
Despite the lack of communication, props and having such a vast discography that if the fans were in charge of which songs he played he’d be playing for days; I can’t really fault him. His long-standing band members were a tight unit that put on an impressive performance and I know for certain that I won’t be missing the ‘Condolences’ tour. Anyone coming with me?
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