It’s finally the start of the weekend and I find myself back once again at one of my favourite venues (for many reasons), KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton.
A small crowd is slowly gathering for the first of tonight’s bands/artists, Tarah Who?. All the way from Los Angeles, Tarah brought along some UK based artists for her live performances.
Tarah’s powerful vocals compliment perfectly the punk/grunge style music, with a hint of southern rock influence and slamming beats. At times this reminded me of The Offspring.
Tarah Who? Gave us a solid and tightly knit performance, I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for future live UK gigs.
The lights dim (a little too much!) for the next band to hit the stage, Sick N Beautiful. With their theatrical costumes and makeup, they look like they could be from a futuristic toxic wasteland. The theatrics don’t end there! From a horned headdress to flame throwers, hand lasers and angle grinders to the guitar, there’s no holding back for Sick N Beautiful.
I can safely say this is possibly one of the most crowd pleasing shows I’ve ever seen (I haven’t made the legendary GWAR yet). Clearly taking note from the likes of GWAR and Tatiana from Jinjer’s stage attire, it was certainly a spectacle. I highly recommend adding catching these guys live to your bucket list.
Next, we have the fairly new kids to the scene, Bournemouth based South of Salem. They’ve recently been lucky enough to support W.A.S.P on tour and have risen rapidly in their short career. As with most the bands tonight, there’s a clear goth horror vibe to South of Salem, although they’ve an added injection of energy. Tonight’s set is filled with offerings from their debut album, ‘The Sinner Takes It All’, which was released in 2020.
South of Salem are gaining popularity fast, 100% a band to look out for!
Now, onto our headliners, Wednesday 13. I first saw these supporting Soil a few years back and I have to say, that show was much more interactive and entertaining. They had props and masks and were more interactive with the crowd.
This time it felt a bit like they’d left the theatrics at the back of a cupboard, lost and forgotten. That’s not saying it was a bad show, on the contrary, just not the Wednesday 13 everyone knows.
A whopping 18 track setlist spanning 1hr 30mins seemed a good value for money although a bit over the top, seeing as there’s 3 support bands. They relentlessly pounded the crowd with solid classics and their enigmatic stage presence which made up for the lack of theatrics.
Unfortunately, the crowd never seemed to build and was thin throughout the entire night, which was a shame. Nevertheless, what a great evening! A mixed bag of emotions and some great entertainment, what more could you want for a Friday evening after a hard day’s work.
Photos and Words by Klare Sherwood
