Back on UK to soil to promote his latest album Skeletons ( the tour is appropriately named the Skeletour) Wednesday 13 has moved up a notch is terms of venue size since his last intimate visit to these shores and his mission this time around, top serve up a good old dose of shock rock.

However before Wednesday 13 it was up to Leeds based outfit Exoterik to get the show underway.  Sounding rather like Evanescence, with a bit of a nu-metal feel, the band never really get out of first gear. Singer Anneka Latta  is very much the focal point of their show, moving about about the stage and appearing to strike all of the right rock star poses but the effect of such posturing is let down somewhat by the fact her band mates all seemed to be nailed to the same spot.  Despite her best efforts, and she is the possessor of a decent voice, and lets be honest a set of  decent enough tunes, highlights of which were ‘Humanity Inc.’ and ‘Are You Alive?’, Exoterik are really a tad boring and failed to make much of an impression on the Wolverhampton crowd.

With Exoterik done and dusted the real job of warming up the Wulfrun was left to The Sign and they showed exactly how things should be done. If the idea was to give the headliner a scare then The Sign definitely managed it, with such a frenetic set if Wednesday 13 was to follow The Sign successfully then he was  definitely going to have to be on top form. Throughout The Sign were the possessors of and energy and verve oft lacking from live bands these days, guitarist A.D.especially  looking like he wanted to detach his head from his neck thanks to some insane bouts of headbanging but to single one individual out would be to decry the efforts of all as each was a constant blur of motion vying for the audience's attention at every possible opportunity. The set was basically comprised of material culled from their latest two albums, with highlights including ‘Dancing In’, ‘Misguided’ and the title track from their, soon to be released in the UK, album The Hope. 

On top of these the band also served up the excellent ‘Thank God For Silence’ and their well worked cover of Skid Row's ‘Youth Gone Wild’, with singer Zolberg exemplifying the  characteristics of a young Seb Bach.  The set ended ended with ‘When Demons Win’,  a great song to follow the Skid Row cover and, as people in the crowd were left buzzing, Zolberg removed his top for the female contingent, a lot of whom had been requesting this throughout the show. Once again the Sign proved that they are a great live band with material that can actually match some of the old classics.

 

This was the first day of Wednesday 13’s UK tour and it coincided nicely with the release of his 3^rd album, Skeletons.  Give these facts it was somewhat surprising that the set started with  ‘Gimme Gimme Bloodshed’ from the new album, something the majority in attendance would not have been familiar with. Perhaps even more surprising is that the song, along with most of the new material, was not only well received but seemingly well known as well . -I guess it is the age of the bittorrent after all.  The new material was mixed equally alongside early efforts and hence ‘I Want You…Dead’ was followed by ‘Not Another Teenage Anthem’.  In fact the show was almost entirely Wednesday 13 based, ‘Happily Ever Cadaver’ (which saw the appearance of the first prop of the night, a spade with the handle going through a fake head) was played early on, and it was only with ‘197666’ that Murderdolls/Frankenstein Drag Queens material gots a rare airing.  Not that this was necessarily a bad thing, Wednesday’s post Murderdolls work has been of a consistently high standard and with the past firmly behind him these albums provided more than enough material to produce a great live show. 

The more serious, and slightly heavier for the live environment, side of Wednesday 13 was delivered with  ‘Skeletons’ itself which was  followed by ‘God Is A Lie’ a song that served to keep the general jovial nature of the night at the max. Acey Slade, last seen fronting the late Trashlight Vision, proved a major focal point and, whilst he didn't steal the limelight it was obvious that he is an experienced frontman in his own right, a fact that only helped with the on stage performance not only of the band but of Wednesday himself. Competition can only be a healthy thing. 

‘Faith In The Devil’, ‘From Here To The Hearse’ and ‘House By The Cemetary’ were all warmly  welcomed before ‘I Walked With A Zombie’, which included the appearance of a roaming roadie in costume, brought the main set to an end.  The encore of ‘Rambo’, ‘Bad Things’ and ‘I Love To Say Fuck’ was an amazing way to end the entertainment and simply left Wolverhampton wanting more.  There were so many other songs that could have been played but, having covered a sizeable chunk of Wednesday 13 material, all good things have to come to an end.

Darren Brushneen