LIVE REVIEW: KIM DRACULA + WEDNESDAY 13 @ THE PRINCESS THEATRE 21/11/25
Horror Down Under Tour
Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi. Photos Charlyn Cameron.The sold-out and packed-out Princess Theatre played host to Tasmanian musician, Kim Dracula, on his first ever headline tour of Australia. Kim Dracula (aka Samuel Wellings) and his amazing band (Ted Gowans (lead guitar), Chasethedrums (drums), Justin Klunk (saxophone) and the most fabulous bassist who’s name I couldn’t find anywhere) rocked into Brisbane for a glorious homecoming concert. In support of the concert, the absolute legend, Wednesday 13 and his band, lit up the Princess Theatre with an amazing set that had hats, Halloween lollies, and that umbrella included.
You know those days where nothing goes quite right, I was having one of those, even my cat died. But I made it, just, in time to the Princess Theatre to see Wednesday 13’s set that commenced with ‘Look What The Bats Dragged In’ and that was just how I felt. The great pomp and bombast of Wednesday 13 kicked in with the following songs ‘Good Day To Be A Bad Guy’ and ‘Rotting Away’ and those songs made me pause and think, after today, was I ready for this?
But I was. And Wednesday 13’s performance of ‘I Want You... Dead’ put a smile on my face as I thought about revenge fantasies and I started to cheer up. It is always a delight to hear a crowd chanting along and then to hear ‘The Ghost Of Vincent Price’. The crowd went off with hands and horns in the air for ‘When The Devil Commands’. Wednesday 13 gave the sold out crowd a reminder of how he can expertly-perform alternative metal with punk and give everybody a rip-roaring good time.
For those older fans, ‘Summertime Suicide’ by Wednesday 13’s original band, the Murderdolls, was delivered to wry smiles and a crowd singing along at top volume. Then, ‘197666’ a cover from Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 and the wonderful ‘In Misery’ were next. Wednesday 13 had the crowd by the throat as he moved around the stage like a whirlwind. He wore fans hats then returned them, fed the fans at the barrier lollies from a pumpkin and showed that he was still king of the kids.
Wednesday 13’s stage presence was awesome. The energy in the room was pumping as he performed ‘Haunt Me’ and another Murderdolls cover of ‘Nowhere’. The huge crowd was jumping and headbanging along to ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ before everyone realised that the end of the set was upon us. The time had gone so fast.
Wednesday 13’s 14 song setlist matched up classic songs with his own solo bangers and the encore made no change to the pattern. ‘Bad Things’ was paired with the Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 ‘I love To Say F**k’ as Wednesday 13 paced around the stage brandishing an umbrella with “F**k” on it. The crowd just loved the performance by Wednesday 13 and his amazing musicians. They had set the tone for the night and it was smiles all round.
Then, after a short break, where the crowd headed to the bar to hydrate. The nice security guard gave me some lolly snakes to keep me going. The lights went down and a long intro started. Then, Kim Dracula and his amazing band raised the (wooden) stakes, threw petrol on the fire and whipped the Brisbane crowd into a frenzy as they arrived on stage to a huge welcome.
The welcome came in two dramatic parts. The band arrived on stage. Then, the PA announced that the crowd had to part “down the middle”. It took a few times and the crowd parted like the Red Sea of phones in the eerie red light as Kim Dracula walked from the front of the venue like Moses down through the crowd to the stage. It was awesome! Then, the music kicked off with ‘Land Of The Son’ which was rich in religious imagery of homecoming and matched the concert’s themes.
Kim Dracula, as a band, is so hard to define or fit into one genre. The band fuses the elements of trap, metal, hip hop, lounge jazz, rock, and pop underpinned by samples and musical hooks for a sound that’s distinctly Kim Dracula. The musicians in the band are so skilled and they can change the tone, the pulse and the beat of the gig using snippets of music or hip-hop beats, to hot saxophone blasts, to searing bass and guitar riffs or everything mixed together, all at once, and within three minutes that can leave you with that musically induced whiplash feeling.
The crowd was headbanging, then rapidly throwing their fists in the air, as the band disappeared into the smoke pillars as heavy guitars and harsh vocals cut in, and then, in a blink of an eye, a saxophone appears, and the venue turns into a jazz lounge. It’s a fabulous approach to performing heavy metal. You can suffer musical sea-sickness if you don’t take this performance with a huge dose of fun.
Kim Dracula and his band then performed ‘My Confession’ and ‘Romance’ before he addressed the crowd and thanked them for selling out the venue. His military-inspired costume was commanding as he revved the crowd up and then performed the heavily ironic ‘The Bard's Last Note’. Kim Dracula kept everyone on their toes as his voice and performance bordered on tightly controlled chaos.
As the set hit that golden four track, ‘1-800-Close Your Eyes’, the heavy metal instrumentation and the clean and harsh singing was reaching its peak. Kim Dracula’s voice was warmed up and he has the most wonderful singing voice. He moved vocally from metal screams to deep voice talking to crazy spitting fast raps to singing high operatic notes. It was amazing.
Suddenly, the band left the stage. It was dark. The James Bond theme started to play and it was so campy. The band returned and delivered the heavy ‘Drown’. It was astonishing to listen to how the samples both lyrically and with instruments were interwoven. There were also the small theatre dramas such as a moustachioed cop who appeared on stage looking for Kim Dracula. The costume changes into hospital gowns and people coming on stage as characters – a rat?. All the while the 19 song setlist rolled on with ‘Undercover’, ‘Kitty Kitty’, ‘Industry Secrets’ and a cover of Pearl Jam’s ‘Even Flow’.
Kim Dracula certainly knows how to entertain and he pulled off the high register screams and operatic singing notes. It was thrilling! By ‘Reunion And Reintegration’ I had been swept away in the drama of the performance and the energy coming off the crowd was insane. Then, the songs ‘Are You?’ and ‘Divine’ were delivered with more sexy saxophone and electrifying guitar riffs. Before we landed in jazz city with the 1970s calling. This led up to the delivery of the cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi’ and the sing along from the crowd was huge.
Then, the crowd just kept singing. ‘Luck is a Fine Thing (Give It a Chance)’ and ‘Say Please!’ were next. Then, a rest as the songs came blending as samples and saxophone riffs from Wham’s ‘Careless Whispers’, with ‘Rosé’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ and ‘Make Me Famous’ stirred like a cocktail in fast and furious style.
At this point, the band said goodnight and left the stage. But the roar from the crowd and the chants for one more song and also ‘Killdozer’ were so loud. Kim Dracula came back out onto the stage and said: “Do you want to hear something new?”. Yes! That was the answer as he performed ‘In Threes’. Then, the last, last, song was ‘Killdozer’ that has Silverchair samples running through it. The crowd was going off its collective nut. Kim Dracula and his band had made the music and night so exciting – no one wanted it to end.
As the set drew to a close, I was astonished to know that Kim Dracula and his dynamic band had not headlined these fabulous fun time concerts in Australia before. The gig was a truly unique experience. It was so much fun, and damn, Kim Dracula is such a phenomenal front man and that band of his are tight.
This is one concert double bill that you do not want to miss: Kim Dracula and Wednesday 13 are a pairing made in heavy metal heaven or hell depending on your view. The ‘Horror Down Under Tour’ gave Brisbane an awesome night of live heavy rock music with a twist and the right amount of chaos. Such fun!
