Live Review: Wednesday 13 @ Highbury Garage!

Halloween in London has been a long time annual event for Wednesday 13. Having played an Anniversary show for “Fang Bang” a couple of years ago, tonight sees the band take on our personal favourite “Skeletons” in full for its 10th Anniversary! The band have also promised some Frankenstein Drag Queens songs tonight in preparation for tomorrows set. There is a steady cam recording tonight’s show from the mixing desk tonight so that bootleg may well appear on a streaming site before too long.

Yorkshire “aggressive pop” band As Sirens Fall [7/10] are tonight’s one and only support band. The Leeds quintet have some pop sensibilities about them but actually they play more of an alternative rock style with a couple of surprise heavier moments thrown into the mix. “She Runs With The Wolves” is a particularly emotional number that has their frontman mentioning losing someone close and telling the sold out audience to take care of their Mental Health. The song then goes down a storm with hand claps and a sing-a-long to push home that all important message. They’ve gone all out with their makeup and skeleton costumes as have the audience, who may not be here for them but enjoy their energetic set none the less. They close with a couple of harder edged songs and are well received and will be back in London at the beginning of November.

For once the PA inspired and we get a horror themed playlist including the theme from Ghostbusters and The Adams Family. Wednesday 13 [10/10] then take to the stage with the current quintet line-up to play through “Skeletons” in full, including “My Demise”, a song that had until now only been played at acoustic shows and never live as a full band. The band are in top form, playing the songs 10% faster and 20% harder with crowd sing-a-longs, fist pumping, middle finger waving and chanting throughout. There are an array of props including a chainsaw for “All American Massacre” that sees Wednesday 13 himself change into a leather face costume. There is even a fake bloody axe at one point. As promised, the album is played in full, though it is in a different order to suit the stage show. “No Rabbit in the hat” and “Not Another Teenage Anthem” are brilliant. Surman puts in a virtuoso performance on lead guitar while the rest of the band put on a triumphant display.

After a 5 minute interval the band return to the stage to play a set of Frankenstein Drag Queens songs with Wednesday 13 taking the time to remind the audience that some of these songs are 22 years old. Material from the “Viva Las Violence” album like “Galactic Chicken Shit” and “The Devil Made Me Do It”. “Die My Bride” is a highlight that sees a 3 foot pair of scissors on stage. After a roof raising performance of “Love At First Fright” everything stops. Guitarist Roman Surman proposes to his girlfriend Shelly on their one year anniversary with a candy pop ring and she says yes! For all the naysayers, Wednesday 13 is a showman, the band themselves are all great players and there is a hugely varied set of material in the bands catalogue. The cheese horror lyrics are hilarious and the music is fantastic fun. Sometimes people need to take themselves less seriously and with a little bit of Wednesday 13 nostalgia, you can’t go wrong!