Wednesday 13 was long overdue a visit to Brighton’s Concorde. This time he brought along Guildford rockers, Orestea, and Swedish goth punks, Sister.

Orestea kicked off the night with sounds akin to Paramore, only heavier. The band seemed relatively nervous, but equally excited to be here. Vocalist, Lisa Avon, sang with power and gave us a pretty good start to the night.

Next came Sister. It’s astonishing how Wednesday always manages to find support acts that sound exactly the same as himself. Gritty, grizzly lyrics, sleazy guitarwork, and gravelly vocals aren’t a bad combination – unless every song sounds the same. Sister seem to favour style over substance and failed to leave much of an impact.

When Wednesday finally graced the stage, we were treated to his usual great showmanship, on-stage jokes and banter, along with a set-list filled with classics and a few brilliant new songs from the upcoming album ‘The Dixie Dead’. Favourites such as ‘Rambo’ and ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ really got the small-but-excitable crowd going.

Wednesday’s shows may often be predictable, but boy, can he command an audience. Even with his new material, he still managed to get the audience to sing, scream, and shout along to every word. As the band left the stage before the encore, everyone knew what was coming next. The final two songs of the night – ‘I Love To Say Fuck’ and ‘Look What The Bats Dragged In’. The crowd worked themselves into a final sweaty frenzy before Wednesday 13 and co left the stage for the last time that night, leaving us all wanting more.

We always look forward to seeing Wednesday 13, and not just because of the music, but because he’s ghoulishly good at putting on a show. Hopefully it won’t be too long before he pays us another visit.

Concorde2, Wednesday 6th March 2013
Words by Ellen Wells
Photos by Charles Shepherd