March 18, 2019 Burton Cummings Theatre
My night began when I walked into the lobby of the Burton Cummings Theatre to see the metal bands Raven Black, Wednesday 13, and Cradle of Filth, each for the very first time. The familiar sight of ushers scanning tickets and the swarm of fans blocking the entranceway to grab their fresh merchandise sent me whirling into a euphoria of excitement I haven’t felt at a show in quite some time.
I walked into the theatre and read my ticket; “General Admission – FLOOR.” I took myself into the main hall and took a quick peek about my surroundings and found a seat in section C in the row nearest the back. The sixty minutes between the opening of the doors and the first band hitting the stage breezed by unnoticed as I watched the room fill to capacity, each person primed for a night of fantastic metal music.
As the lights dimmed promptly at 8 pm, a few cheers began to fill the Burton Cummings Theatre as the four members of Raven Black walked onto the stage in front of a large swath of people that descended to stand in front of the stage. The band is made up of singer Raven, The Doctor on guitar, Muppet on the drums, and Stitches on bass. Raven Black brought their theatrical stage show all the way from Los Angeles to Winnipeg, Canada to allow people to see the spectacle of their performance. Throughout the band's set, Raven brought various objects on stage including an umbrella, a mace, chains, and a teddy bear during their songs, “Spider,” “13,” and “Sticks N Stones.”
At around 9 pm the lights faded to black once again, this time for the heavy metal artist Wednesday 13. Vocalist Wednesday 13 walked on stage, accompanied by his bandmates while donning a mask and a cloak that was saturated in deep blue and purple lights from above the stage.
Wednesday 13 performed a nine-song set, which saw them play many songs off his last three albums in the likes of “Come Out and Plague,” “Get Your Grave On,” and “What the Night Brings.” Following the performance of their brand new song, “Zodiac,” 13 said on stage that he’ll have a new record out later this year on Nuclear Blast. So be sure to keep an eye out on all of Wednesday 13’s socials for more information on its release.
Soon enough it was 9:55 pm and I was sitting in one of the loges within the venue, level to the first balcony and also above stage left in the theatre. I watch the crowd around the venue on the floor and the first balcony, all waiting both eagerly and patiently, as was I. All of us were eager for the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth to finally take the Winnipeg stage.
Though the band has never wanted to be stuck within genre barriers, they can mostly be described as an extreme metal band. Extreme metal is an umbrella term for several different genres of metal, some of which Cradle of Filth dabbles around in.
Going 28 years as a band, this was the very first time Cradle of Filth has ever played in the city despite touring Canada countless times in the past. As 10 pm hit, the venue’s house lights dimmed and unseen lights from above doused the stage in a thick cloak of red as the intro track “Ave Satani” began the performance. The band’s members made their way onto the stage one by one taking their places. Last was vocalist, Dani Filth who stationed himself between drummer, Marthus, and keyboardist/vocalist, Lindsay Schoolcraft at the back of the stage until the start of their opening number, “Gilded Cunt.” A few stand-outs performed during the night were, “Bathory Aria,” performed in its eleven-minute entirety, “Dusk and Her Embrace,” “Nymphetamine (Fix),” “Honey and Sulphur,” and the show-closing number, “Her Ghost in the Fog.”
Although the band’s set was a short thirteen songs, the length of the songs made up for it as most averaged fairly over five minutes. I glanced at my phone as soon as the show is done, which says ’11:39 pm.’ While I was making my way out of the venue I thought to myself how satisfied I was with that being my first ever Cradle of Filth show. I can’t speak for anyone else inside the venue, but I can only assume the universality of the sentiment. At the top of my head, there’s plenty of songs I would have loved seeing the band perform, there’s always hope for such in the band’s future tours. Now that the band has seen what this city has to offer, all their fans can hope the band makes it back on future treks across North America.
All photos by Samuel Stevens Photography.