Review and pictures: JD Garrahy

The clouds are gathering, the face paint plentiful, and a wave of black clothing has hit The Princess Theatre like a tsunami. Yes, it’s time for a double bill for the ages, and tonight Kim Dracula and Wednesday 13 are about to tear this place to the ground.

I’ve been privileged enough to see Wednesday 13 three times previously, and with number four about to get marked off the list, my anticipation for what’s about to go down is through the roof. The Princess ain’t going to know what hit it.

As the lights lower, the crowd starts chanting for our first artist to take the stage. And with a punch to the face, we are at full noise straight out of the gate. Kicking straight into “Look What the Bats Dragged In” from Transylvania 90210, our frontman—adorned in a red and black silk cape—looks every bit the part, and from the first note, it’s easy to see why he smashes stages worldwide and continues to dominate the horror-metal genre.

There’s a very extensive career to cover for Mr. Motherfucker this evening, but grinding through track after track, with his signature gravelly vocals and dominating stage presence absolutely unmatched, they blast through not only the solo works but Murderdolls and Frankenstein Drag Queens as well. This crowd is getting damn spoiled.

This band is tight tonight. I mean it—I’ve seen them four times now and there is never a missed note or a dropped drum beat. They are flawless every time. If you haven’t seen Wednesday 13 and his ghouls of guitaring, then you have missed some of the best performers on Earth. With an encore of “Bad Things” and the epic “I Love to Say Fuck”, Wednesday came to show why he is the King of the Killers, The Master of the Macabre, and so much more. Accept no substitutes—there is only one Mr. Motherfucker, and there’s only ever going to be one Mr. Motherfucker.

It is time. I, like so many people here tonight, have been anticipating this tour for a long time. To see Kim Dracula in all their glory simply decimate a venue like The Princess is the stuff soggy dreams are made of. The lights go down and the intro track pipes through the PA. Things are about to get insane. The crowd parts, and Kim—shrouded in what can only be described as a boxer’s robe—is led through the mosh pit by torchlight, tracking their way to the stage door. This is theatrics of a masterful level, and Kim is about to give us the greatest show of the year. Prepare thyself.

If you haven’t familiarised yourself with Kim Dracula’s body of work, then you’ve been missing out. This is genre-blending at the absolute pinnacle. There’s metal, jazz, hip-hop, punk, pop, and so many more influences that I could spend an entire review unpacking. But I digress—unless you were here tonight, you have no idea of the sheer brilliance that Kim brings to the stage.

The fact that this is their first headline tour of Australia feels criminal. It takes a true master of their artform not only to bring a performance to life but to create its own personality—one you cannot resist being completely and utterly enthralled by, from the chime of the first note right through to the feedback ringing through the PA after the band has departed the stage. Not many can do it, but Kim Dracula does it with minimal effort.

Hitting a massive setlist in the time they have on stage, Kim—absolutely killing it in their warlord attire—drops some tasty cuts into the mix that you wouldn’t expect. Least of these is Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow.” I’m not a fan of the Seattle grunge lords, but Kim and their band deliver a rendition that I’m sure even they couldn’t deny is incredible.

With “1800-Close-UR-Eyes” early in the set, the crowd is getting maximum bang for their buck. And grinding out “Drown” straight after was pure mastery. As the CO₂ cannons erupt throughout the set, everyone in this epic venue is captivated by everything happening on stage. The crowd feeds the same energy back to Kim that they so generously give to us in plentiful supply, making it feel like the ticket price was way under what it should’ve been for such a domineering force of musical intensity.

I’ve been saying it for years—metal needs more instruments not previously considered for the genre—and with the flawless execution of blending so many styles, Kim’s saxophonist brings a whole new level of intricate artistry to tonight’s show. Damn, I do love some brass mixed into my music. Coupling this with Kim’s vocal flexibility is pure genius. The way they switch between a growl and melodic, high-pitched vocals is something I didn’t know would translate from studio recordings to the stage, but gahd damn—my respect for Kim Dracula was pushed into the stratosphere witnessing how impeccably they accomplish this.

With a morbidly driven cover of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” delivered to the masses, Kim has the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand. Following it up with a mash-up of “Careless Whisper” and Carlos Santana’s “Smooth”, while giving the crowd a touch of comedy via a balaclava-clad band member approaching the front of the stage, Kim informed us that it was none other than Rob Thomas. And as the balaclava was removed, there was another balaclava underneath. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who chortled at this.

As they depart the stage, attendees start to scream the familiar “one more song” chant that we all know too well. But if you’ve been following Kim Dracula throughout their career, you know it’s far from over. Launching full tilt into “In Threes”, this is the pointy end of the set, and we’re ready to be impaled upon the weaponry within Kim’s arsenal. Now, this is what I’ve waited to see live from the moment I first heard it: “Killdozer.” When you have a full cacophony of people screaming “I drive a motherfucking army tank!” it sends shivers down the spine, and when the end of the song hits, you just want to hear it again and again. Give me more Kim Dracula gigs than you know what to do with—I promise I can handle whatever is thrown at me.

Parting is such sweet sorrow, but after tonight’s offering, the memory of this show will happily live in my head rent-free for the rest of my days. Come back to the homeland real soon, Kim—your genre-mashing mastery and live-show theatrics are what the Australian music scene needs now more than ever.