Storm Amy is blowing a hoolie in Manchester for the goth invasion that is tonight’s show, and the New Century Hall loos are full of tattered black-clad children of the night re-applying their black eyeliner and re-spiking their black hair.

There’s also a wind of change blowing through the South Of Salem camp. Regular readers will know that they are currently one of the best-known, best-loved and rapidly rising bands on the UK rock scene so it was a bit of a shock when they recently announced the departure of founding guitarist Kodi Kaspar. However, life (and the show) must go on so they have recruited a similar-looking chap by the name of Ed for this current run of shows. We don’t know yet if Ed is a permanent fixture or just a temporary fix, but either way he posed, pouted and shook his floppy fringe throughout the show and seemed to cover the bases well enough for the eager crowd pressed to the barrier.

The show started theatrically, with a stage chock-full of props and fireworks and a booming, spooky intro tape. It didn’t take long for the familiar strains of ‘Let Us Prey’ to be bashed out, and therein lay a problem. Everyone at the front seemed happy enough but halfway back the sound was terrible. Everything was fuzzy and kind of merged into a wall of sound – it was really hard to distinguish individual guitar sounds over the buzzing bass, and although Joey’s vocals were clear the backing vocals were also totally lost in the mix. The energy was still there, the familiar songs from the first two albums were still there, the cover of Savage Garden’s ‘To The Moon and Back’ was still there, singer Joey’s charisma and stage presence was still there but it felt like all of that was fighting against a tidal wave of sound that carried everything along and kind of mashed it all up on the way.

A new aspect to the show was Joey and guitarist Denis coming to the front to give us an acoustic version of ‘Villain’ – with just the two of them the sound was way better and as they started ‘Demons (Are Forever)’ in the same style the crowd waved their lighters and the rest of the band joined in to make it once again the power ballad to end all power ballads. At this point the soundman also seemed to find the correct knob for the guitars, and the final four songs saw the sound back to what we expect from this band. The set closed with the anthemic ‘Cold Day In Hell’ and the band bounded off to head straight for the merch to meet their public. No airs and graces here, they didn’t leave until every photo had been taken, every poster or CD signed and every hug given. Kudos to them for that, despite the somewhat woolly sound their hardcore fans were legion and their queue massive.

South Of Salem at the New Century Hall in Manchester on October 4th 2025

The stage set for The 69 Eyes, the self-styled Helsinki Vampires, was much less elaborate. Cleared of all but amps, a simple backdrop suffices. There are no fireworks, no props, just five guys all in black gearing up to deliver a 17-song set that encompasses most of their 33-year 14-album career. Surprisingly in these days of constantly shifting band memberships their lineup too has remained stable since 1992. They take us back to 2004 for the opening track ‘Devils’, taken from the album of the same name and encompassing their full-on goth aesthetic.

If you close your eyes you could easily be listening to The Mission, or the Sisters Of Mercy. Except, except, well except that this is goth music that you can dance to. It picks up your black-clad feet and begins to twirl them around without you even realising. The sound then morphs into a kind of anti-Jovi sound – the commercial sensibility and soft-rock panache of New Jersey’s finest but with a dark twist to the lyrics. The band may look like darkness personified but much of their sound is light as a feather. There’s a pop-rock element to what they do that belies the horror pastiche lyrics and makes you want to whirl and prance. Highlights of the show include ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, a perfect slice of poignant lyrics about loss and despair laid out on a happy, energetic musical carpet. ‘The Chair’, despite being an older song, has all the clapalong and the crowd duly joins in with gusto.

Despite the bleakness of they lyrics somehow the music manages to be uplifting and life-affirming. The influences are wide, there’s a song that Billy Idol would be proud of, one that could have dropped out of the Meatloaf/Steinman playbook and then suddenly with ‘Still Waters Run Deep’ the whole goth ethos comes rushing back and brings to mind fellow Finns HIM. The song titles too point to their influences, ‘Brandon Lee’ is a paean to the late star of The Crow and of course ‘Gothic Girl’ speaks for itself! They briefly leave the stage, but of course it’s not over yet. Back they come to restart the dance macabre with ‘Dance D’Amour’ and then finally we get their tribute to possibly the greatest vampire movie ever, ‘Lost Boys’. During this final song fellow goth/horror singer Will from Creeper comes on stage to join in the fun, and then suddenly the lights go on and it’s all over. The white faces with black-ringed eyes flood wearily out into the streets, sated like the Count himself after a visit to a fair maiden’s boudoir.