listening to Sumo Cyco and enjoyed
watching them perform more than
anything. The whole set was a
constant barrage of visuals. Between
watching Sweetnam climbing on
hershow — and watching him
continue holding her on his shoulder
while he played, to the Cheshire Cat
smiles plastered across the faces
of Anesetti and Trozzi while they
played, Sumo Cyco gave Portland a
reason to rock.
(
The show went on as Sweetnam
sang System of a Down’s “ B .Y .O .B .,”
flawlessly, urging the crowd to
sing along with her. The night had
officially begun, and the first mosh
pits of the night started; Sweetnam
herself hopped onto the floor to
sing and rub elbows with the crowd
multiple times and finished the set
on an extremely high note. Hot off
the heels of Symo Cyco’s electric
performance, it was finally time
to see one of the two most highly-
anticipated bands of the night,
Wednesday 13.
In what turned out to be one of
the best performances I’ve ever
seen, Wednesday 13 took no time
completely blowing me off my feet.
In the most impressive way possible,
Wednesday 13 delivered the hardcore
horror gore metal performance of
my dreams. Anyone that knows me
knows how highly 1 regard Marilyn
Manson as a singer/songwriter,
artist, and celebrity; Wednesday 13,
unknown to me before the show,
gave a performance in roughly 40
minutes that made me sit back
and think about the fact that I ‘felt
like I had just witnessed the 1990s
Marilyn Manson/Alice Cooper/Rob
Zombie/Misfits combination act of
my wildest dreams.
performance art are what set
Wednesday 13 apart from the rest
of the show. In a fantastic marriage
of visuals and timing, Wednesday 13
immediately shot to the top of my
personal top-five favorite artists.
I played with thé slimy body paint
covered “ worm” in my pocket that I
caught at the end of Wednesday 13’s
set. Covered in color-changing body
paint, Wednesdày.13 writhed around,
on stage, rubbing the “ worms”
around on his chest, biting into
fistfuls of them and tossing them
into the crowd of excited rockers
with his teeth before they took leave
of the stage.
,
When the Wednesday 13- madness
was cleared off the stage, and new
setlists were pasted on the floor,
the crowd began to push inward
in anticipation of the main event;
the Goth ‘n’ Roll legends we’d ail
come to see — The 69 Eyes — were
somewhere in the building, getting
ready to finish out the show.
The five men filtered on stage and
the crowd roared,back to life after
the lengthiest intermission of the
night; clad head-to-toe in black
leather, lead vocals Jyrki 69, bassist
Axchzie, and guitarists Bazie and
Timo-TimO all wore matching black
leather jackets and vests printed
front and back with crisp white torso
and arm bones — as usual, drummer
Jussi 69 Wore leather pants, shoes,
and nothing more.
“ God, it’s like they’re trying to
kill us,” I remarked to the man on
my right. We had no idea how long it
would be until Wednesday 13 would
be on and the venue was already
full of smoke from the machines
onstage. It reeked Of sweat and
artificial fog — little did I know that
the wait would be so worth it.
“ Ju ssys a show all by him self.”
Wednesday 13 dressed as the devil
to perform a few songs.
Wednesday 13 loomed over the crowd
as he sang down on the crowd.
Clackamas Pf int
Unsettling drooling, grueling
growling vocals about all manners
of gothic grossness, body paint
covered “ worms” and a murderous
stage act worthy of being called
and I didn’t walk away disappointed
by their performance iff the least
at the end of the day, Wednesday 13
gave the Hawthorne the command
performance of the evening.
The 69 Ryes kicked off their set
with a classic rock anthem o ff their
latest album, West End. “ Two Horns
Up” sounds and feels electric from
the very beginning, with the lines
“ Two horns up/Never let it go/You
got a gift of life/Nevex live it slow,”
repeated in the chorus, the song hits
hard and fast, making you feel like
ybu’re imbued with all the electricity
and power used to power the lights,
speakers and instruments on
stage. Overall, The 69 Eyes offered
a wonderful setlist that smoothly
blended their newer music with the
songs we all know and love from the
’90s and 2000s.
Walking out into the frigid night
after the show felt like emerging
into a new life. The voice coming out
of me was a hoarse crackle and the
stiffness in my neck and shoulders
rivaled the Jerky rigidity o f the
infamous Frankenstein monster;
squealing ringing set in quickly as
icy wind blew the sticky hair away
from my face and behind me in a
furious? tangle:
If you missed the show this time
around, have no fear — The 69 Eyes
posted on social media the day that
they were supposed to be in Seattle,
saying they would be returning in
the fall to make up the missed show
(and to tell their Seattle fans they
would receive a full refund.) I can
only hope that means that The 69
Eyes will be back for a whole tour,
and not just to make up for the
cancellation — especially if they
come back with Wednesday 13.
Though I went to the show
specifically to see The 69 Eyes -r
; > th^c^çkam^Rfint.u»îL—
Febru^ryl2^2O2O