Wednesday 13 brings his Murderdolls celebration to Bristol

★★★★☆ (4/5)

WEDNESDAY 13 PEFORMING AT BRISTOL’S THEKLA
PHOTOCREDIT: LIAM O’DONNELL

“Are you ready to rock the boat?” Asks the self proclaimed Duke Of Spook Wednesday 13 a few songs into his set. Tonight we are indeed on a boat. The Thekla is a former cargo ship permanently moored in the mud dock area of Bristol and used as a concert venue since 2006. It’s a tight fit into the concert space of the 400 cap venue during a sell out show which creates a rowdy and anarchic atmosphere amongst the crowd.

Being the closest weekend to Halloween this is the perfect spooky Saturday night out. First up are UK horror-hard rockers South Of Salem. With a sound that takes influence from Motley Crue, Alice Cooper. Avenged Sevenfold and perfectly Murderdolls, this is a band very much on the rise with a large devout following of fans ready to back them up wherever they play.

Despite being the only support tonight’s set is short (thanks to the venues club night later on in the evening) with only 6 songs. Coming on stage to the iconic Halloween movie title track the band rip into “let us pray” with the audience loudly singing along. From then we have a run of four tracks from the bands 2024 release “Death of the Party” with “static” sounding huge and “left for dead” getting the crowd moving. Closing their set with the incredibly catchy “cold day in hell” which results in the majority of the crowd singing along with frontman Joey Draper. The band are perfect and the moment they stop playing you are left wanting much more. Bigger stages are coming.

22 years ago Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison started a side project called Murderdolls with the bands debut album “Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls” becoming a cult hit, particularly in the UK. The band would go on to release a follow up, “Women And Children Last” in 2010. Many touring and session musicians would come and go, but the driving force and main songwriters were always Jordison and frontman Wednesday 13, who originally joined the band as the bass player under their original title The Rejects.

Murderdolls were always meant to feel and look different to Slipknot. Taking more of a punk and 80s glam rock influence with the music and tracks mostly written about horror movies and things that go bump in the night. Despite recording all the drums, Joey didn’t play drums live instead he played guitar with him and Wednesday leading the gang from the front. All these years later and now a successful solo artist, Wednesday 13 is celebrating the band that in his own words “allowed me to live my childhood dreams and play rock and roll all over the world.” As well as the music these shows are celebrations of the life of Joey Jordison who sadly passed away in 201 and to original touring drummer Ben Graves who passed away in 2018.

Enough history, now to the music. Wednesday opens his set with a one-two of “Chapel Of Blood” and “Death Valley Superstars” from the later of their two albums but it’s “197666”which gets the mosh pit jumping. 13 then takes us back “to a time before streaming where you had to buy a cd. You’ve picked up this new album with Joey From Slipknot on, pressed play and heard this..” Cue the lights going down and the intro sampler to “Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls” opener “Slit My Wrists” plays before the tear into the track which is followed by massive singalongs to “Love At First Fright” and “Motherfucker I Don’t Care.”

As someone who is a veteran of watching Wednesday 13 live and seen many of his shows, this feels special. His voice sounds perfect and he commands the stage holding the audience in the palm of his hands. His backing band are really tight as well. Long time touring members Troy (bass) and Jack (guitar) always deliver and there are two new guys as well. Filling in on drums is Davier Perez who hits the skins hard while new lead guitarist Ashes fits the band perfectly nailing all the solos with his own style. I for one am excited to hear his work on Wednesday’s next solo album which he tells us is out in April 2025.

Before hitting into “People Hate Me” we are treated to a hilarious story by Wednesday of how when touring with Iron Maiden the bands fans would hate them every night they played.

“Summertime Suicide”, “Welcome To The Strange” and “Nowhere” are all highlights as the main set comes to a close.

Ahead of the encore we get another story of Murderdolls appearance on Top Of The Pops. When all the other artist lip synched, they played live. Wednesday then admitting they should have lip synched as well! That was for a cover of Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” which charted in the top 20 in the UK singles charts and well worth watching if you can find it online. Hearing this cover live was the set highlight for me. Wednesday has never done this at any show I’ve been to in the past so it was very exciting to hear with Wednesday even sporting a look similar to what he wore in the video. This is followed by fan favourite sing a long “I Love To Say Fuck” and fittingly ending on the very first Murderdolls single “Dead In Hollywood” which earns a massive singalong from everyone in the audience. For just a few minutes I am a teenager again,

An amazing night from two perfectly similar sounding bands. For a nostalgia set from Wednesday 13 it delivered everything that was needed, sing a long after sing a long as well as being a fine tribute to the Joey, a musician nobody will ever forget.