Wednesday 13 Celebrating 20 Years of Transylvania 90210 with I Ya Toyah, Dead Rabbits and Stitched Up Heart at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ

Wednesday 13 is out on his There's No Such Thing as Monsters Tour celebrating 20 years of his debut album Transylvania 90210. He brought along a packed bill including I Ya Toyah, Dead Rabbits and Stitched Up Heart to The Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. The crowd was small but mighty. They showed love and rocked out to each band.

Beginning the night was I Ya Toyah. A single badass one-woman show.  I Ya Toyah who originally is from Poland calls Chicago her home. She is a singer, musician, producer, composer and founder of Femme Fatal Records. Her music is electro-rock-industrial inspired. She walked out on stage with a guitar and a mission. Since she was a solo act, she played guitar and sang but relied on an elaborate setup for everything else such as synth and drums.  I Ya Toyah performed just a handful of songs to the eager crowd, just enough to give everyone a taste of who she was. She was a great opening act to a long night of music.

Next up were Dead Rabbits led by Craig Mabbitt who also shreds vocals for Escape the Fate. The last time I saw Craig perform was also at Starland right before the pandemic hit while he was with Escape the Fate. I interviewed him that night, so this show brought back a lot of fun memories.

Dead Rabbits just released a new album called Redefined out on Judge and Jury Records founded by powerhouse rock producer Howard Benson and Three Days Grace' drummer Neil Sanderson.

They performed 3 tracks off of the new album "Artificial Gods", "Oxygen" and "Hellscape" which they recorded and performed with Mixi Demner from Stitched Up Heart. They mixed in some older tracks as well including "Dead by Daylight" and "Mistake".

The set went hard from beginning to end. The vocals, the guitars, bass and drums were all polished. The crowd was super engaged, singing, throwing horns and headbanging along. Anything that Craig Mabbitt touches is gold to me. Pick up the new album and support the smaller of his two projects, Dead Rabbits deserve to shine.

Direct support for the night were Stitched Up Heart. I have been following this band since their beginnings and have seen them at least a dozen times. They always put on a high energy, fan friendly performance and tonight was no exception. Lead singer/rhythm guitarist Alecia "Mixi" Demner is a sweetheart and a badass. She has bounced back from vocal issues that almost derailed her career and is out touring and making new music.

They opened up their night with another tour collaboration. Craig Mabbitt came out to perform "To the Wolves" with the band. Mixi and Craig have an amazing stage energy that ignited the crowd into a frenzy. Stitched Up Heart played old favorites like "Catch Me When I Fall" which is a lighthearted guitar and clean vocal track that directly went into a new song called "Sick Sick Sick" which was a lot heavier and grittier by contrast.

Merrit Goodwin (guitars) Randy Mathias (bass) and newcomer Dalaney Jaster provided a standout musical backdrop for the bands set. Delaney is pulling double duty on this tour drumming for both Stitched Up Heart and Dead Rabbits. She seamlessly moved between both bands even though this was her first tour.

Keep an eye out for more new music from Stitched Up Heart, new music means new tours and I cannot wait for all of it.

Now let's talk Wednesday 13. Another artist that I haven't seen since the pandemic hit. When I saw that he was going on tour I knew I had to go and experience his classic songs mixed with some new tunes. Reliving Transylvania 90210 20 years later while celebrating the upcoming release of Mid Death Crisis was a full circle moment for the artist and the fans.

Wednesday 13 opened the night with "Bad Things" off of Transylvania 90210 setting the tone for the show. While the crowd wasn't very deep, I turned around to a boot in my face from the lone crowd surfer coming over the rail. The second song was "197666" which was a cover from Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13. The crowd went crazy yelling 666 at the top of their lungs. They were throwing down like their lives depended on it. "No Apologies" was the first of 3 new songs performed. This song has yet to released so it was a treat for all in attendance. The beginning guitar riff was like mini solo before Wednesday 13 chimed in with his signature gritty vocals.

Other songs from Transylvania 90210 that were performed were "House by the Cemetery", I "Walked with a Zombie", "I Want You... Dead" and "The Ghost of Vincent Price". The rest of the set list was two new songs, "In Misery" and "When the Devil Commands" as well as a mix of covers.

Wednesday 13 and his band delivered a solid set that left the fans wanting more. With a new album on the way I am sure that everyone will have more chances to see him in the near future.