What feels more appropriate than seeing Wednesday 13 in Manchester, only a handful of days after Halloween? The second date of the bands’ Mid Death Crisis tour took place in Manchester, on the bouncy floors of the O2 Ritz, and what better way to spend a Wednesday night than with a theatrical and spooky sing-along to such an iconic band?
The Nocturnal Affair
The first band of the night was The Nocturnal Affair, all the way from Las Vegas for the first time in Manchester in just over a year since supporting Kris Barras. This band feels like a very fitting support as they don’t feel quite as theatrical as Wednesday 13 and have more of a classic hard rock undertone, driven by darkness and raw emotion through vocalist Brendan Shane’s haunting melodic vocals paired with guttural screams and deep growls.
‘Liar, failure, crook, backbiter’ is one line that frontman Shane wanted to make known, encouraging everyone to join in before reaching the growling chorus of ‘Backbiter‘, a song which acts as a message to anyone who wants to get in their or anyone’s way and to those who try to tell them what they can and can’t do. To bring their astounding set to a finish, they played their hard-hitting cover of ‘What is Love‘ by Haddaway, which had the entire crowd, front to back, and those standing by the bar, singing along.
The Soap Girls
These French sisters, Camille and Noemie Debray, raised in South Africa, come equipped with the goal of showing that it’s ok to be truly and unapologetically yourself. The powerful duo took to the stage in their signature ‘stripped back’ attire, accompanied by their session drummer to treat the audience to a genre-defying performance of alt-rock, with Noemie’s clean vocals and Camille’s growls perfectly complementing one another.
The Soap Girls make it clear that they aren’t afraid to be loud about what they believe in, with lyrics displaying anger towards politicians and paedophiles, feeling like a rejected member of society, and everything in between, combining this with an eye-catching performance of contortionism. These are definitely a band to see if you get the opportunity to!
Wednesday 13
As the smoke clears from the stage, the man himself, Wednesday 13, emerges, setting the fast pace of the night and chugging guitars from the get-go with ‘Look What the Bats Dragged in‘ from their staple album ‘Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying and the Dead‘. Despite the tour being for their latest album ‘Mid Death Crisis‘, the band ensured there were plenty of fan favourite songs in the setlist from the rest of their discography for their diehard fans in attendance, along with some Murderdolls and Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 favourites.
Wednesday walked up and down the stage, throwing out sweets from a pumpkin bucket into the crowd while performing ‘Haunt Me‘. While the venue wasn’t full, the volume of the crowd would make you think otherwise, as everyone was packed as far forward as they could, jumping and singing along throughout. After this, we get ‘Good Day to Be a Bad Guy’ where Wednesday playfully shortens one of the microphones on the stage, playing up to the idea of being the ‘bad guy’.
The set also featured a heartwarming shoutout to Joey Jordison and Wednesday proudly declaring ‘Long live the Murderdolls’ with a performance of ‘Nowhere’ straight from the Murderdolls’ discography. They concluded the anthemic night with an encore of ‘Bad Things’ followed by ‘I Love to Say Fuck’, where Wednesday encouraged everyone, including the nine-year-old girl sitting on her dad’s shoulders, to stick their middle fingers up in the air as he marched across the stage with his oversized umbrella decorated with a middle finger and the word ‘FUCK’.
If you missed the chance to see the iconic Wednesday 13 on this tour, you will definitely get the chance to see them again as they are frequently touring the UK and will next be performing at Bloodstock 2026. Definitely check them out if you haven’t had the chance to yet!