Review and photos by Alex Peace
The Oobleck is a really chilled and relaxed venue with an intimate vibe throughout. Unfortunately this is another small venue in Birmingham, the Home Of Metal, that has been forced to closed it doors.
People eagerly waited, looking round at what looks like a small two levelled bar in complete of confusion as to where the gig would be. With a slide of a bolt the bookcase opened revealing a hidden room behind. Everyone piled in and got their spot in front of the simply decorated stage, and waited for the time Mr 13 (real name Joseph Poole) would take the stage.
With no support act, tonight’s gig was set to unlike any other; the songs that his generations of fans have grown to love being stripped back, as we are later told, to the way that they were all written, on an acoustic guitar in his apartment in LA with his only critics Scream and Joan Jett to judge (his cat not the actual Joan Jett).
As showtime approached the house lights dimmed and the stage was lit with fairy lights and lanterns. ‘Fade To Black’ started and this was the cue for SABATOOTH sorry I mean Wednesday 13 and Roman Surman to take their seats on stage in front of a strong crowd of forever W13 fans.
Mr 13 regaled the crowd throughout the night with stories and escapades from the past, one of which was from the night he met one of his idols, the legendary James Brown. After playing a show with the Murderdolls, the guys headed to the infamous Rainbow Bar and Grill, where Wednesday always looked forward to getting his hands in to a plate of their hot sauce chicken wings, (because we all know how much he loves his chicken) but he never knew that simple night in the Rainbow would turn in to one that he would be captivating his fans with 15 years later.
The set was filled with bits everything from the dark depths of Wednesday’s back catalogue including some of this less known side projects, Gunfire 76 and his drinking band Bourbon Crow.
Before breaking in to the well known ‘Love At First Fight’ we were given an insight into the world and obscure mind of Wednesday and Joey Jordison, when they were first forming the Murderdolls as we know them know but they were almost called Good Night Morticia; a name which Joey loved and Wednesday was dead set against. After much persuasion Joey agree to the name Murderdolls. So think of that Ghouls, growing up listening the likes of ‘Graverobbing USA’ by Good Night Morticia.
We were told stories about Omar the Multicoloured Cannibal Chicken who became the 4th member of the Frankenstein Drag Queen, and how they would have Omar on stage when they played and how he would squawk and poo constantly for the whole set. It was only one day when Wednesday’s dad told him that Omar was dead, leaving him in a cage in 100 degree garage, that FDQ became a 3 piece again.
Wednesday and Roman delivered a ghoulish evening filled with music, stories, laughter, sing-a-longs and that making every single person feel like a part of one big twisted family. Wednesday described the Birmingham crowd as “Perfect” cant get much better than that.
I have been listening to the music of Wednesday 13 in some form or another for the last 13 years. The music holds the most memories for me from growing up and I’m pretty sure that this is the same for all of the other die hard Ghouls. Tonight he also revealed that January 2017 will be the year we will see the release of his next full studio album and in his own words it will be “heavy, dark and weird”. Wednesday definitely left his mark on this venue.
Set List
1. Fade To Black
2. Dead Caroline
3. Home Sweet Homicide
4. God Is A Lie
5. I Walked With A Zombie
6. Love At First Fright
7. Summertime Suicide
8. My Demise
9. Welcome To The Strange
10. I Love Watching You Die
11. F** You
12. Scary Song
13. Nowhere
14. Suck My Dixie
15. Curse Of Me
16. I Love To Say F*** (written in the ladies room at K-Mart because that’s where the good acoustics were)
17. Bad Things
