October 9, 2026

Wednesday 13, Dead on a Sunday, and Above Snakes

The Rosetta Room | Mesa, AZ

October 5, 2026

(by: Shay Smith)

On this October 5th day, I found myself in store for a long day. Many personal errands and appointments forced me out of bed at 5:30 a.m. After that came my three-hour drive to Mesa. The drive would be worth it, giving me a chance to see my good friend and guitarist for Wednesday 13, Ashes.

Wednesday 13 made a stop at The Rosetta Room, show 11 of 31 on their Shocktober Blood Tour 2026 across the USA. Supporting them on this tour are Dead on a Sunday and Above Snakes. This show would be my first time visiting The Rosetta Room, one of Mesa's newer event venues, established in 2025. I was looking forward to checking out the venue and seeing what the bands had in store for us.

Above Snakes

Born from a middle-finger turn away from the Los Angeles industry machine, Above Snakes is modern hard rock built on pure grit and independence. Co-founders Johnny Skulls (vocals) and Dax Dabs (guitar) returned to their Boston roots to build a band on their own terms, a ground-up DIY force where Skulls personally designs and builds the band's visual identity. That relentless, self-made drive doesn't just fuel their studio work; it explodes the second they hit the stage. The other half of this high-energy group is the beat beast Bamm Bamm Lamm on drums and bassist Will Hunt.

Having seen them before, I knew what was about to happen. Above Snakes didn't ease into their set, they blew the doors off the venue by opening with Waking the Savage. Driven by crushing riffs and an explosive, primal, arena-ready chorus, it immediately detonated the crowd and set a relentless, high-octane pace for the rest of the night. They immediately put the venue's sound to the test, and it held up strong. Above Snakes sounded amazing while causing the ground to rumble.

The second song in their set was Ride & Die. Before launching into Make Amends, Johnny paused for a heartfelt moment with the crowd, urging everyone to reach out and make peace with the important people in their lives. He reminded the room how fragile time is, that tomorrow isn't guaranteed, and leaving things unsaid means risking losing someone before you ever get the chance to make things right.

After turning the mood to the serious side, it was time to turn it back to the fun side. They got the crowd moving and singing along with their three-song medley: Run-D.M.C.'s It's Tricky, MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This, and Salt-N-Pepa's Push It. Following that great '80s/'90s medley was their newest single, Fallen Angel, which was released at the beginning of September.

Up next was a personal favorite of mine that I discovered on SiriusXM Octane, 81 (Thallium). The song's chorus always gets the crowd singing, "KILL! KILL! KILL!" To close out the set was another SiriusXM Octane song, their breakthrough hit Down. This set-ending song left the crowd energized, which was perfect because it set the table for Dead on a Sunday.

Dead on a Sunday

Acting as the bridge between Above Snakes' raw, high-octane modern hard rock and Wednesday 13's full-scale theatrical horror-punk, Dead on a Sunday brought a different kind of energy to the stage.

They kicked off their set with Dance Like Hell and X-Sized, showing off their heavy-driven goth-rock and darkwave sound. Next up was I Give You My Love, keeping the momentum going before the band moved into their mid-set mashup.

This mashup would catch the crowd a little off guard because it blended Britney Spears and Depeche Mode. They call the medley “…Baby Enjoy the Silence One More Time”. It didn't take long for the crowd to fall in love with it. Well, that was until a faulty cord cut out the sound, which I found a little ironic given the song's title.

The crowd decided to take matters into their own hands and finished singing the Britney Spears portion themselves. Once the sound came back, the band picked up right where they left off and finished out the Depeche Mode half of the song. It was an unexpected interruption, but the crowd made the best of it, turning a technical issue into a memorable moment.

Dead on a Sunday continued their set with Slasher and Obsess, bringing the energy back up before playing RNAWAY. Next was their cover of Goodbye Horses, originally performed by Q Lazzarus, and well known from the movie Silence of the Lambs. They continued with Ender before closing out their set with Carolyne, off their debut album Strange Days.

Dead on a Sunday delivered a solid performance, bringing their darker sound and unique blend of influences to the evening. Their set was a great change of pace after Above Snakes and helped build anticipation for the main event.

Wednesday 13

Now was the moment everyone was waiting for: Wednesday 13, led by the Duke of Spook himself, joined by Ashes and Jack Tankersley on guitars, Troy Doebbler on bass, and Mike Dupke on drums.

With Halloween approaching, the stage had been adorned with jack-o'-lanterns, combining a great theatrical performance with everyone's favorite holiday.

Wednesday 13 walked onto the stage to loud screams and cheers and immediately jumped into When the Devil Commands. This song not only has a solid dual-guitar attack, but it also gave the crowd a chance to get involved right away with everyone chanting "6-6-6."

I'm also going to take this opportunity to tell you there is a music video for this song. The video is very well done, and I highly recommend you check it out.

Without stopping, they moved right into Summertime Suicide (Murderdolls cover) and From Here to the Hearse. Again, no slowing down as they jumped straight into Look What the Bats Dragged In. This featured a slick guitar solo by Ashes, while Troy put his pick in his mouth and started finger-picking his bass.

After four songs, they paused to tune their instruments as the intro rolled for the next song, In Misery. During this song, Wednesday performed the "Backwards Man" routine, complete with a custom mask strapped to the back of his head, crafted specifically for this tour by the creature designers at Mortar Heads.

They continued to steamroll through their set with I Want You... Dead, Serpent Society, and Rotting Away, before hearing the legendary voice of the Master of Menace, Vincent Price. That obviously led us right into the next song, The Ghost of Vincent Price, with Wednesday wearing a long, flowing black cape.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a song with a very catchy beat and groove. It really got the crowd moving and jumping around. Concerts are a little like a roller coaster, so after being upbeat, it was now time to bring things down a little. A skeleton was moved onto the stage, with a head that looked very similar to Wednesday. The band kicked into the song Decapitation, and if you're singing about decapitation, then it's a given that the head of the skeleton would be removed. Wednesday would go on to pull off the head and parade around the stage with it in hand.

A little past the halfway mark was the song Haunt Me, which led into a blistering drum solo filled with classic horror movie sound bites by the mighty Mike Dupke.

As they approached the end of their set, they played two cover songs: Nowhere (Murderdolls cover) and 197666 (Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 cover).

To close out their set was I Walked With a Zombie, a fan favorite. That was the end of their set, but not the end of the show. No horror-punk and shock-rock show would be complete without an encore.

Before jumping into the first song of the encore, it was time for shout-outs to the opening bands, introducing the band members and thanking the fans. With that out of the way, he asked the crowd not to take it personally, but he wanted Bad Things to happen to them. Bad Things is off Wednesday's 2005 debut solo album Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying, and the Dead.

To close the show, Wednesday 13 would play the highly anticipated fan favorite, the song everyone loves to sing along to. Not to give too much away, but while introducing the song, he asked the crowd if they loved to say "fuck." Loud cheers erupted, and the middle fingers went up in the air. He continued going back and forth, shouting "Fuck!" with the crowd before jumping into I Love to Say Fuck (Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 cover).

I've seen all these bands before, but I must admit, this was the best performance I've seen by each of them. They all sounded great and put on one hell of a show from start to finish.

The tour runs through Halloween, so catch them if they swing through your area.

Final Thoughts

From the opening riffs of Above Snakes to Dead on a Sunday's darkwave energy and Wednesday 13's horror-punk theatrics, this was one hell of a night of live music.

For me, the long day and three-hour drive were worth every minute. Getting to see my good friend Ashes doing what he does best was already a great reason to make the trip, but seeing all three bands deliver what I felt were their best performances made it even better.

If the Shocktober Blood Tour 2026 comes through your area, do yourself a favor and catch the show. It's a great mix of heavy music, dark humor, theatrical performances, and the kind of crowd interaction that makes live music such a great experience.

Photo Coverage:

Wednesday 13

Dead On A Sunday

Above Snakes

Shocktober Blood Tour 2026:

09.23 – San Jose, CA – The Ritz

09.25 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon

09.26 – Portland, OR – Dante’s

09.27 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club

09.28 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge

09.30 – Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar

10.01 – Anaheim, CA – Parish @ House of Blues

10.02 – Pomona, CA – Glass House

10.03 – Fresno, CA – Sanctuary

10.04 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom

10.05 – Mesa, AZ – Rosetta Room

10.06 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater

10.08 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theater

10.09 – McHenry, IL – The Vixen

10.10 – Flint, MI – Machine Shop

10.11 – Lakewood, OH – Mercury

10.13 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom

10.14 – Lowell, MA – Taffeta Music Hall

10.15 – Harrisburg, PA – Capitol City Music Hall

10.16 – Syracuse, NY – The Song & Dance

10.17 – Bensalem, PA – Broken Goblet

10.18 – Clifton, NJ – Dingbatz

10.20 – Leesburg, VA – Tally Ho

10.22 – Raleigh, NC – Chapel of Bones

10.23 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club

10.24 – Columbus, OH – The Kings of Clubs

10.26 – Nashville, TN – Basement East

10.27 – Sauget, IL – Pop’s Nightclub

10.28 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck

10.30 – Colorado Springs, CO – Black Sheep

10.31 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theater