On a packed night at Portsmouth’s Wedgewood Rooms, Creeper brought their darkly theatrical world to an intimate stage, delivering a performance that felt both larger-than-life and deeply personal. Fresh from arena support slots and riding the momentum of their recent concept releases Sanguivore and Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death, the band transformed the small Portsmouth venue into a gothic spectacle—proving that even in close quarters, their ambition loses none of its bite.
Creeper @ Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
After the lights go down, black-clad openers The Howling, comprised of As Sirens Fall and James And The Cold Gun alum, come on to the monologue of The Louvin Brother’s Satan Is Real. As their frontman lets out a demonic cackle, over abrasive feedback, he addresses the crowd: “Portsmouth! How the devil are ya?”. With entertaining theatrical emo songs with names such as New Religion and Unholy, one would have thought that there was a deadly serious ungodly pattern emerging. That is until they perform “a song you might know” – Madonna’s Like A Prayer, laced with guitar solos and growled chorus.
It is precisely what they position on the bill, before glamorous gothic rockers Creeper who rise from the underworld in favour of a different realm of evil. Opening monologue A Shadow Stirs introduces rock music as “a horny vampire, and tonight it is feasting upon you”. The performance does not have a narrative as such (although the setlist is built almost exclusively of songs from their latest two concept albums Sanguivore and its sequel Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death), this overture does suggests that a full, face-melting experience has been planned out. After all, they are about a rock band of vampires (“glampires” maybe?) on tour during the 1980s.
And the setlist has been planned out peculiarly intricately, the very moment at which frontman Will Gould removes his eyepatch is marked on his setlist. Already, it feels as though the lucky four-hundred fans who are crammed into the sold-out Wedgewood Rooms, are here to watch an intimate work-in-progress performance, before the theatrics are introduced on a much, much bigger stage. After all, they have supported both Black Veil Brides (2024) and Ice Nine Kills (2025) at Wembley Arena. However, everything feels far more polished than that, even squeezed into here.
There is an admirable attempt by everybody to sing along to the over the top, operatic oohs and aahs, that start opener Mistress Of Death. Gould’s lyrics, along with the maximalist sound of the band, are a sure sign of influence from Jim Steinman. “Mistress of death, angelic underworld huntress / Lay down on me, sister, the sharpest kiss of death” sounds like a lost verse from Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. It is of no surprise then, that Creeper also took a shot at writing a nine-minute song, Further Than Forever, and they nailed every second of its performance tonight.
Gould has unfathomable control over the adoring fans, who always know exactly what to do – “when I do this [points mic at already screaming crowd], you do that”. The rapid, heavy, Judas Priest-influenced Headstones induces one of the show’s biggest mosh pits. Anybody who is feeling too hot and sweaty could be fanned with foam headstones that were being waved around.
There is a tease of a change of mood at the beginning of Sacred Blasphemy with the sound of Hannah Greenwood’s twinkling piano, but not all concept albums need miserable melancholy. This lasts only a few seconds before blasting into motion, right up until the song’s big, spectacular key change chorus (of which there are quite a few tonight).
Halfway through the show, Gould leaves the stage to hand the spotlight to Greenwood, for a powerful, slinky and seductive performance of Razor Wire. She is introduced as the album’s titular Mistress Of Death. It’s quite an imposing title to have to live up to, but once again, the lyrics make her character work believable, regardless of whether or not this is a play – “decapitation is a lifestyle, baby/Come on and give me your head/To crave my kiss implies sadistic desire to touch/razor wire”. This song even had a finger-clicking and piano section that sounded uncannily like The Addams Family. It goes to show their playful use of horror imagery, which is a passion that harks all the way back to their debut album, even if none of its songs are performed tonight.
Upon returning to the stage, Gould devoted The Crimson Bride to his father, who was somewhere in the audience. Once upon a time, his last band performed at the smaller secondary venue next door (The Edge Of Yhe Wedge), and he told the story of how his father bought everyone drinks. There are a few too many people here to do that tonight. After an emotional performance of More Than Death, he gives a very honest thank you. Whatever scale of performance Creeper puts on next (this feels like a show that needs a much larger stage, as soon as possible), this room will clearly mean a lot to them forever. It is as though selling out “the big room” had been on their bucket list all along.
Live review of Creeper at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea on 11th April 2026 by Nick Pollard. Photography by Simon Reed / Musical Pictures.
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