Dark Winter, Punk Filled Room: Lord of the Lost with The Birthday Massacre, and Wednesday 13 at Fine Line
This was a night full of spookiness, flashing lights, and ethereal mystery, and it was clear that everyone was having a blast with all three bands. But to start us off on this Dark Winter tour, we had the leather clad Wednesday 13 take the stage with his band. Opening up with When the Devil Commands, Wednesday immediately got the crowd chanting along with him for the “The devil made me do it, I'll do it again!” and “6 6 6 when the devil commands!”. What was also really cool was hearing 197666 be played, originally from The Murderdolls/Frankenstein Drag queens From Planet 13, because you will rarely get to hear anything from those projects anymore! We also ended up getting Summertime Suicide, I Walked With a Zombie, where the crowd went wild with the chanting here, and even more so for the ending song of I Love to Say Fuck. Wednesday and the band were very interactive, with insane stage presence, and it was an awesome treat to be in the pit for this one and to watch it from afar afterwards as well. A lot of the crowd I saw seemed to really enjoy the show as well, and you could tell 13 was having a blast just performing as well. My most enjoyable part of all of this was how 13 used the mic stand like a dance partner rather than just a static piece of equipment on stage, it was hilarious watching him throw that thing around a lot. Props were also very relevant during the show! At one point a glow in the dark plastic jack o lantern was brought out, where he threw out plastic spiders at the crowd, and later for I Love to Say Fuck had an umbrella with a middle finger painted on it that he gallivanted around with on stage. Overall, the Duke of Spook delivered, getting the crowd to “flap their bat wings”, and have an absolute blast for some horror filled punk fun!
The Birthday Massacre took a completely different approach in their set however- coming out individually to an ambient track, then slamming into heavy riffs all together before their vocalist took the stage. Right away you could tell the band really feels their music, and its a lot of fun seeing an emo band with a super bubbly, interactive frontwoman leading them.
A song from their newest album (that i unfortunately missed getting the name of) got the biggest reaction from the crowd, with most of them being familiar with it and singing along. Another highlight was the vocalist noting how this was a city that clearly takes care of its own, right before sliding into their song Sleep Tonight. It was a small moment but showed that they cared and the song choice was a good intentional push for the set as well. The synths that played with it during that song were also just nice and dreamy and fit perfectly.
I will say as well, the bass for this band was nuts. You could feel it from pretty much anywhere in the venue, and up close it was a little much at times, but it really fit their sound, and paired with the vocal delays, and ethereal instrumentals, it had the crowd headbanging and swaying along to each song. It was overall a fun set and felt like everyone got pulled into some nostalgia during their show.
Lord of the Lost had the room instantly. The second the band stepped on stage people were screaming, and frontman Chris Harms took control right away, looking just as excited to be there as the crowd was to see them. The dark tones, flashing lights, and wild colors bouncing around First Avenue made the whole set feel huge, and it was already clear it was going to be a spectacle.
About halfway through Harms organized what he called a “one person circle pit,” telling everyone to point a finger in the air and spin in place. From above it just looked like a floor full of goths turning in circles together, and it was honestly hilarious in the best way. He also took a moment to thank the crowd for having them with everything that’s been going on in the city, saying they had to take the tour day by day to even see if this stop would happen, and that they were so glad it did. That led into Wednesday 13 joining them on stage for I Hate People, which might have been the loudest moment of the whole night. Seeing the two of them together was incredible, both feeding off each other and getting everyone to shout every word, and you could tell how much that crossover meant to the fans.
Later Harms left the stage entirely and walked along the barricade while still singing, stopping to hold hands and look people in the eye. The crowd went wild for it, and it summed up their whole set perfectly, big dramatic music but delivered in a really human way. Between the heavy guitars, booming bass, and constant clapping and call and response, it felt special the entire time. Out of all three bands they really felt like the glue of the night, pulling the spooky fun of Wednesday 13 and the dreamy weight of The Birthday Massacre into one loud, theatrical, feel good performance. Watching them in a smaller room like this was a treat, and it definitely made me want to see what one of their shows back home in Europe would be like!
Overall, this whole night was such a fun time, everyone coming dressed super fun, in industrial goth wear, happy to be there and see some heavy bands playing just for them.
