It was an emotionally charged evening at The Asylum in Birmingham on a week that saw England's second city say goodbye to one of its most famous sons, the Prince of Darkness and Godfather of Heavy Metal, Ozzy Osbourne. Wednesday 13's headline set also coincided with the 4-year anniversary of the passing of legendary Slipknot drummer and Murderdolls alumnus Joey Jordison.
The Las Vegas-based five-piece The Nocturnal Affair was the first act of the evening. Illuminated in strobes, the set started with a fierce solo drum line from Raistlin “RJ” Hamman before the rest of the band burst onto the stage in an energetic fury and (barring the buzz-cut frontman Brendan Shane) a blur of hair tossing and headbanging.
Shane expressed his gratitude to be back out touring the UK and Europe (they are off to mainland Europe to support Drowning Pool after this little UK run), explaining that this was the band's third time playing Birmingham.
Their set was brisk, just 30 minutes, but was packed full of fun that built momentum throughout. It came to an eventual close with a cover of Haddaway's classic "What Is Love."
The room was rocking, with audience participation kicking up a notch, and as far as warm-ups go, it was a job well done.
The filling for tonight's sandwich was the English theatrical alt-rock band Fearless Vampire Killers. It would appear that these guys have been to Birmingham before (or they were aware of the city's reputation), as they were all sporting some sort of stab vest/flak jacket on stage (I jest, of course).
Their performance was fun and energetic; however, for all of their efforts (at one point even seeing frontman Kier Kemp out onto the security barricade), for the most part, their set did not seem to connect with the crowd. Possibly, some sound mixing issues early on lost the audience, but they never seemed to fully get them back on board.
Kemp eventually called the crowd out on this, however: "This is Birmingham; this is Tommy Shelby's town; he could do it. We may be getting on now; we're probably classed as Dad Rock, but if I can get my hands up in the air, then so can you. If you can't get your hands up, then at least get your fingers moving. Come on, are you guys ready for Wednesday 13?"
It seemed as though the audience had taken this criticism on board, and to their credit, by the time we got to the final number, "All Hallows Evil," Kemp had the audience fully engaged again.
It is guaranteed that when the Duke of Spook is in the building, there is sure to be a show of mesmerizing proportions. There was no exception to that fact tonight, as Wednesday 13's Summer Blood Storm Tour not only showcased new material but also celebrated 20 years of his debut solo album (2005's Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying and the Dead) and even managed to cram in a best-of Murderdolls/Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 mini set into the evening's proceedings.
The show kicked off with a bang with "Look What the Bats Dragged In," which segued straight into "Too Fast for Blood." The consummate entertainer, Wednesday 13, giving the impression of a maniacal crow, was seemingly loving every minute, peacocking his way across the stage, holding the attention of the audience like the maniacal ringmaster he is.
The newest single, "Rotting Away," was up next, swiftly followed by "I Want You Dead" before the crowd was afforded a moment of calm.
After the frenzy of the opening segment, Wednesday 13 tok a moment to reflect, "It's been a sad week in Birmingham; we lost the Prince of Darkness, and it's 4 years to the day that we lost our brother Joey." But stating to the crowd that although it needed to be acknowledged, now that it had been, it was time to dive back into the madness of the show.
The set continued in similar shock-show-biz fashion with "When the Devil Commands" before our first throwbacks to previous Wednesday 13 projects, Murderdolls "Summertime Suicide" and Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13's "197666."
"In Misery," "Good Day to Be a Bad Guy," and the second Frankenstein Drag Queens track, "Die My Bride," followed. The intro music to The Exorcist then began to play and marked the start of five-ish minutes of some of the best fills and soloing that this reviewer had ever witnessed from drummer Mike Dupke, all the while Wednesday 13 was geeing up the Birmingham crowd.
Now sporting a very fetching cowboy hat as the set started to draw to its conclusion, it's hard to imagine that there was anywhere else for the night left to go with the amount of energy that had been spent on stage so far, but somehow the band found another gear and everything got turned up to 11, or should I say 13?
"No Apologies" led into "From Here to the Hearse" before our final Murderdolls number of the night, "Nowhere." There was one last brief pause from Wednesday 13 as he instructed the crowd to "Raise your hands for Ozzy Osbourne, raise your hands for Joey Jordison" before fan favourite, "I Walked With a Zombie."
The briefest of walk-offs then ensued before inevitable chants of "one more song, one more song" from the crowd; Wednesday 13, now with his signature officer's cap atop his head, duly obliged and gave us two.
"Bad Things" rounded off the additions from Transylvania 90210. One last confab with the audience: "Make some noise for The Nocturnal Affair.... Make some noise for Fearless Vampire Killers... Make some noise for us; we fucking love that shit...Most importantly, Birmingham, make some noise for yourselves for selling this place out."
Then, with The Asylum now at the point of absolute bedlam, and with the instruction to stick both middle fingers up high into the sky, the show finished (accompanied by an NSFW umbrella and additional pantomime backdrop) with Frankenstein Drag Queens' favourite, "I Love To Say Fuck."
All that was left to do was slowly shuffle our way back out to the streets of Birmingham, serenaded by KISS's "God Gave Rock And Roll To You" as we left.
