Music / Reviews
Review: Skindred, O2 Academy
“Anybody remember when we used to play up there?” asks Benji Webbe pointing in the direction of the now mercifully defunct smaller ‘Academy 2’ at the top of the building. Indeed we do, sir. Occasionally, if we stood on tippy-toes, we could almost see the top of your head. We old-timers also remember your support slots at this venue and your shows with your previous band, the ahead-of-their-time Dub War, at the Fleece back in the 1990s. Skindred’s long-overdue breakthrough saw them sell out the Academy back in 2012 and Newport’s finest have remained at that level ever since.
All this paying of dues means these ragga-metallers are a well-oiled machine these days, and Benji really knows how to work an audience. “Bounce up and down!” he commands. Everyone bounces up and down. “Wave your hands in the air!” he exhorts. Everyone waves their hands in the air. “Bristol – do kung fu!” he demands. No, really.
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As usual, Skindred have two intro songs (all of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and a snippet of the Imperial March from Star Wars), which seems a tad excessive. But there’s none of the dicking about that occasionally threatened to derail some of their earlier shows as they arrive in a colourful eruption of shades, dreads (Benji) and extravagant facial hair (the other ‘dreds) to fly through a slick, brisk, crowd-pleasing set. Opener Big Tings is one of just four songs aired from the new album of the same title, which is probably wise given that it’s not actually out yet.
Played back to back, Selector and Pressure (with a sneaky quote from Back In Black) are two of Skindred’s most danceable anthems, giving the rhythm section of bassist Daniel Pugsley and drummer Arya Goggin an opportunity to shine and presenting the always amusing sight of a packed rock audience attempting to frug, with Benji as charismatic ringleader. It’s odd, however, that this genre-bending music seems to appeal principally to adventurous metallers, bringing in few punters from the dancehall side of the street. Benji still bears the scars from a knife attack in his home town a couple of years back, so could easily play the fashionable ‘street’ card. But he pointedly avoids gangsta posturing and self-aggrandising swagger in favour of radiating positive Rasta vibes, frequently breaking off to stress his band’s commitment to inclusivity.
Machine, the second song from Big Tings, is built on a stonking riff by Mikey Demus – now sporting the full Billy Gibbons to emerge as the undisputed winner of the band’s ongoing beard wars – and could well be the heaviest thing they’ve recorded, obliging the audience to switch abruptly from skanking to headbanging. But – hey – that’s the nature of a Skindred show. The only mis-step tonight is the acoustic Saying It Now, also from Big Tings. Benji’s heartfelt song about a chum who died of cancer before he could say goodbye isn’t a bad song; it’s just poorly placed in the set, abruptly slowing the momentum when it should be maintained, and would work better as a first encore.
Kill the Power and set closer Nobody (with a diversion into The Prodigy’s Out of Space) get things back on track, transforming the audience into a churning sea of moshers. Ever the piss-taking quipster, Benji continues to tease and cajole us throughout, showing off his remarkable range of accents: one minute it’s Welsh lilt, the next he’s slipping into Jamaican patois. He even comes over all ‘English as tuppence’, as Viv Stanhsall would have put it, to lead a bizarre singalong of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”.
Yep, for all the genre-demolishing and social commentary, a Skindred show is mostly about having fun. It’s hard to think of another band who could get away with quoting from both Sad But True and Boom! Shake the Room during their encore, but the Welshmen manage it. Finally, Warning brings their own unique audience participation moment: the Newport Helicopter. Essentially, this entails removing your shirt and swirling it above your head. At this stage in a hot and sweaty Skindred show, it also performs the useful function of augmenting the struggling air conditioning.
All photos by Mike Evans
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