Backstage, Munich, Germany13th October 2019
Wednesday 13 & SOiL
Due to the incredible traffic on this sunny October Sunday, I needed over three hours for the 100km to Munich and missed DOPE but arrived just in time for SOIL and since the evening started early at 18:30 and would last a long time with four bands being on stage and I had to go back all the way to be in office early the next day, I had to leave before STATIC-X went on stage. WEDNESDAY 13 haunted Munich accompanying STATIC-X on their tour honouring Wayne Static, together with DOPE and SOIL. After listening to WEDNESDAY 13’s new album ‘Necrophaze’ and having a very interesting interview with him, it was time to hear the Duke of Spookiness and his band live.
SOiL
Heavy Hard Rock band SOIL formed in Chicago in 1997. The band has sold over two million albums worldwide and is best known for the hit singles ‘Halo’, ‘Unreal’, ‘Redefine’, ‘The Lesser Man’, and ‘Shine On’. The band would ultimately sign to J Records (BMG) by music industry legend Clive Davis. SOIL experienced mainstream success with the major label debut ‘Scars’ which was released in September 2001. This achievement was aided by the popular singles ‘Halo’ and ‘Unreal’ which gained the band exposure on MTV. The band consistently toured in support of top name acts such as OZZY OSBOURNE and ROB ZOMBIE which propelled the group into arena sized venues and crowds. In 2004, the band released their second major label album ‘re.de.fine’.
The band released their next two albums ‘True Self’ (2006) and ‘Picture Perfect’ (2009) and proved that they were a mainstay in the Hard Rock world with non-stop touring and by spawning yet another top charting hit single with ‘The Lesser Man’ in 2010. SOIL released its sixth studio album, entitled ‘Whole’, in 2013. The album was a “return to form” for the band and has been hailed by fans and critics alike as the album that could have come directly after the ‘Scars’ album. After celebrating their 20th anniversary in January of 2017, SOIL entered into the studio to record new material to be included on ‘SCREAM: The essentials’, a greatest hits collection featuring the songs that solidified SOIL as Hard Rock mainstays, as well as, alternate versions of popular tracks and unreleased material. The band will be on tour in the USA in 2020. http://www.soiltheband.com / https://www.facebook.com/SOiLmusic
Music & Performance
The Munich crowd was gathered in the pit and around the arena while SOIL delivered an excellent show inside. Hands and fists were in the air, people were jumping and pushing forward. What really impressed me, was that the vocalist addressed the audience at the end of the show, reminding them that all the music is there just because of them, people who attend live gigs. I was happy, that my favourite song ‘Halo’ was on the setlist as well as ‘Pride’. The band got a big applause for their show and I’m sure they won over many new fans.
Setlist
01. Breaking Me Down
02. Need To Feel
03. Pride
04. Redefine
05. Give It Up (with Wayne Static vocal tracks)
06. Unreal
07. Halo
08. Black Betty
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Light: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
Wednesday 13
WEDNESDAY 13’s first solo tour took place in 2004 after the MURDERDOLLS went on hiatus. The bands influences were KISS and ALICE COOPER and of course WEDNESDAY 13’s Horror-Punk-Influences. After a change in the line-up the first album ‘Transylvania 90210’ was released and the band went on tour again and opened some shows for ALICE COOPER around Halloween. In 2006 ‘Fang Bang’ was released and there were various editions each featuring a different bonus song, a tour with THE 69 EYES followed 2007 The next album ‘Skeletons’ was released in spring 2008 and the first live-album ‘Fuck It, We’ll Do It Live’ was released in November that year. There followed a few EP’s and remixes until ‘The Dixie Dead’ was released in 2013 followed by ‘Monsters Of The Universe’ in 2015. In 2017 he signed with Nuclear Blast and released ‘Condolences’ followed by his latest release ‘Necrophaze’ in 2019. https://officialwednesday13.com / https://www.facebook.com/officialwednesday13
Music & Performance
WEDNESDAY 13 opened the show with ‘Necrophaze’ a track from the band’s latest release, the stage was illuminate din green and blue light, WEDNESDAY 13 wearing a really scary mask, with something that seemed like a shawl of feathers and a dark cloak, definitely a creature you don’t want to meet alone at night. Posing together with the members of his band, who all had their face painted with some fluorescing highlights, he delivered the perfect opening and had the audience’s attention immediately.
‘Zodiac’ followed suit and now WEDNESDAY 13 wore a different attire, showing us the mysterious ‘Zodiac’ inspired by serial killer one who haunted the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1960’s and was never caught. Covered in a black balaclava like hood swinging a blood-stained axe while hammering guitars, superfast drums and stroboscopic lights underlined the massacre. With this song WEDNESDAY 13 made one of the best performances I ever saw at the live gigs. ‘Hail Ming’ followed suit, now the vocalist was wearing a dark cloak and his scary fluorescing face paint made him look like he was the reaper who jumped out of a horror-movie and entered the stage in Munich.
‘Get Your Grave’ on was next and the audience sang ‘Get your grave, get your grave…’ WEDNESDAY asked the people to raise the audience to raise their hands in the air and the whole venue was a venue of raised hands. The heavy guitar riffing and the green-lights during the non-vocal parts were amazing, so was WEDNESDAYs red-body paint shining in the light. A thing that I really liked was, that the guitar players changed their standing position several times during this song. The lightshow and the music managed to give you a scary, yet nearly haunted feeling, while the crowd go wilder and wilder, the further the show went on.
WEDNESDAYs performance of ‘Prey for me’ and especially ‘Decompose’ was super-spooky. First the lights went nearly off, then he appeared wearing the famous front and back mask outfit and during the performance you could recognize that since he got sober and started working out, there is a lot more physical demanding action on stage. HE Roamed and crawled on the stage, while the venue was nearly dark and only few green or blue lights illuminated him and the band. The ultimate highlight was, when he bent backwards over the platform ‘’facing’’ the audience with the backwards-mask, while the guitars delivered killer-riffs. Heads were banged, when the first riffs of ‘Keep Watching The Skies’ started and WEDNESDAY, wearing a cylinder with green fluorescing paint pointed lamp at the audience and his fellows on stage.
Overall the lightshow during the performance was fantastic and always created the perfect moos for the songs and coming to the stage outfits, WEDNESDAY 13 really paid attention to every detail and changed his outfit every few songs. My personal highlight was, when WEDNESDAY 13 appeared with an umbrella, bearing the unmistakeable sign: ‘Fuck’, a song WEDNESDAY 13 released with THE MURDERDOLLS a classic among the fans who were more than ready to take over during the chorus raising their hands in the air. The band left the show with a big applause. WEDNESDAY 13 is back and better than ever. The band will be touring in January and February 2020 in the USA with THE 69 EYES.
Setlist
01. Necrophaze
02. Zodiac
03. Hail Ming
04. Astro Psycho
05. Get Your Grave On
06. Prey For Me
07. Decompose
08. What The Night Brings
09. Keep Watching The Skies
10. Fuck
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9.5 / 10
All pictures by Munich Vampire
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