Wednesday 13 – Gig Review 15th April @ Brightside, Brisbane

Wednesday 
Max Watts, Brisbane
April 15th, 2016
Supported by Darkcell and Terror Parade

The master of spooks has decided to haunt The Brightside Friday night and tagging along were his merry band of super freaks. That’s right kids – it was time to slap on your makeup and platform shoes because Wednesday 13 hit town! Tagging along for the ride are Terror Parade and Brisbane/Gold Coast locals Darkcell who do a great job at making this guy feel extremely under-dressed.

Kicking things off tonight are Terror Parade a band who ultimately forget that they aren’t at a Nuremberg Rally. Throwing out Nazi salutes is about as controversial as the cheese sandwich I ate after this concert. So basically it’s just cold, sad and leaves you just a little bit lonely. Sieg Heil aside, the band do their best to get a reaction from the crowd but sound issues and a repetitive albeit intense brand of horror thrash (probably a genre) fail to persuade anyone but their most devoted fans from banging anything more than their boots.

Darkcell on the other hand do a great job at getting the crowd to move. Front-man Jesse Dracman plunging his entire being into the depths of darkness and comes out of it with the gift of charisma. Aided by songs that sound like what would happen if Rob Zombie and Wednesday 13 made satanic babies. They have the entire crowd head-banging to their derivative but ultimately fun brand of gothic/industrial metal. Finishing their set tonight with NIN’s seminal ‘Head like a Hole’ has everyone singing back every word. Given more time and a bit more creativity this band could become something spectacular. Until then I guess I’ll take dumb fun.

And finally Wednesday 13 takes to the stage. Standing above a flurry of smoke and lights the band shoot straight to space with ‘Keep Watching the Skies’ the opener to his latest album Monsters of the Universe. Coated in white and jerking around like a guy who just snorted a bag of Halloween candy, he gives us hit after hit from his extensive and varied catalogue of creepy songs. Powering through sound issues, every person here tonight is a flurry of moshing, head banging and fist pumping action. The highlights are numerous from the slow burning hypnotism of ‘Serpent Society’ to the fast chugging riffs of ‘Scream Baby Scream’. The fans drink deeply from the well of horror Wednesday 13 has created for himself.

‘I Love to Say Fuck’ is one of the biggest highlights of the night which starts with an explanation of the many uses of the word before the song kicks in and has the crowd raising their middle fingers, screaming the words and pumping their fists like wacky inflatable arm men. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and so Wednesday 13 brings out arguably his biggest hit ‘Bad Things’ to turn everything up to 11 one last time and just when you thought it was all over he beats us all with the title track to his latest record. Hotter than hell, sweater than a Pagan forest orgy, the crowd braves the heat in this tiny room for one last hurrah before Wednesday leaves us all to seek the cool night air and wipe off the makeup running down our faces.

Setlist
Keep Watching The Skies
Astro Psycho – Galactic Blood-Drive
Get Your Grave On
The Ghost of Vincent Price
Scream Baby Scream
Serpent Society
Skeletons
Blood Sucker
Come Out And Plague
The Dixie Dead
Play Video
I Love Watching You Die
I Love To Say Fuck
My Home Sweet Homicide
Encore:
Scary Song
Bad Things
Monsters Of The Universe

By Kaydan Howison