SKINDRED
DATE:
VENUE:
Friday 7th November 2016
Corporation in Sheffield, UK
Reviews & Photography by Gina Godfrey
THE KING BLUES
THE KING BLUES
The scene is Sheffield Corporation, on a very cold and wet November evening. The sold-out venue and capacity crowd didn’t seem to mind the rain as they queued outside the venue in anticipation, for this was the night that Skindred had returned to “pump up VOLUME”. A sodden crowd were soon warmed up when York’s own RSJ hit the stage, bringing their own raucous metalcore to kick the evening off with a bang. Next up hailing from London town, The King Blues’ are musically not as the name suggest; I was quite surprised they weren’t a stoner rock band but more a case of Green Day and Rancid meets The Ordinary Boys, bringing their own melting pot of pop punk-ska filled energetic set. The crowd’s reaction to their performance was one of a headline act, singing along to songs such as ‘Save the World, Get the Girl’ and ‘The Streets are Ours’. They left me feeling we will be seeing a lot more from these guys in the not so distant future; hopefully on mainstream platforms.
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Skindred at the Corporation in Sheffield, UK, 4th November 2016
Photograph copyright © 2016 Gina Godfrey - www.metal-discovery.com
SKINDRED
The lights go down, ACDC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ roars from the PA… this could mean only one thing… it was time for the headliners to take to the stage. The excitement grew even more as the band hit the stage one by one to ‘The Imperial March’ from ‘Star Wars’, leading them into ‘Under Attack’, the first single off their 2015, sixth studio album, ’Volume’. ‘Rat Race’ set the tempo for the evening’s proceedings, alongside a set old and new from their extensive back catalogue. House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ provided the introduction to this flagship song for their ‘Sound the Siren’ UK tour.
If you have never seen Skindred live before, they are a band who insist on a lot of audience participation. Lead singer Benjji Webb interacts with the crowd, making the show personal to the city/country he is in, so it was quite funny to see him light-heartedly pick out members of the crowd who weren’t jumping around at the beginning of ’Pressure’, and make them jump on their own. Carrying on in the same vein, the band treated us to their take on Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ as an intro before soaring into the lead vocal line of ‘Trouble.’
Webb asked the audience for silence as he told a very personal story about his friend who had passed away, and that the song ‘Saying it Now’ had been written following his loss. The crowd’s reaction was one of emotion and respect as he belted out a very heartfelt acoustic number. The tempo was once more stepped up with ‘Kill the Power’, the title track from their highly successful 2014 album.
They rounded the set off with another hit, ‘Nobody’ (nobody gets out alive), and the mood was still electric in the room. It was obvious the fans weren’t ready to go home just yet. As the venue fell into complete darkness, the audience demanded another helping of bombastic ragga fused metal. With Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ intro, mixed fluidly with dubstep, Skindred were back out on the stage ready to deliver, Benjii now dressed in a golden crown, alongside Mikey Demus on guitar, Dan Pugsley on bass, Arya Goggin on drums and Dan Sturgess providing DJ and samples. They started the intro to the very popular ‘Warning’, telling the crowd to get down to their knees. As the music started, Webb screamed: “Jump the fuck up”… and so we did. Holding aloft various items of clothing in the air and spinning them furiously, the crowd participated in the bands well-known trademark Newport helicopter! Which rounded the evening off nicely and sent the fans home satisfied they’d just seen a force to be reckoned with!! SKINDRED!
If you have never seen Skindred live before, they are a band who insist on a lot of audience participation. Lead singer Benjji Webb interacts with the crowd, making the show personal to the city/country he is in, so it was quite funny to see him light-heartedly pick out members of the crowd who weren’t jumping around at the beginning of ’Pressure’, and make them jump on their own. Carrying on in the same vein, the band treated us to their take on Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ as an intro before soaring into the lead vocal line of ‘Trouble.’
Webb asked the audience for silence as he told a very personal story about his friend who had passed away, and that the song ‘Saying it Now’ had been written following his loss. The crowd’s reaction was one of emotion and respect as he belted out a very heartfelt acoustic number. The tempo was once more stepped up with ‘Kill the Power’, the title track from their highly successful 2014 album.
They rounded the set off with another hit, ‘Nobody’ (nobody gets out alive), and the mood was still electric in the room. It was obvious the fans weren’t ready to go home just yet. As the venue fell into complete darkness, the audience demanded another helping of bombastic ragga fused metal. With Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ intro, mixed fluidly with dubstep, Skindred were back out on the stage ready to deliver, Benjii now dressed in a golden crown, alongside Mikey Demus on guitar, Dan Pugsley on bass, Arya Goggin on drums and Dan Sturgess providing DJ and samples. They started the intro to the very popular ‘Warning’, telling the crowd to get down to their knees. As the music started, Webb screamed: “Jump the fuck up”… and so we did. Holding aloft various items of clothing in the air and spinning them furiously, the crowd participated in the bands well-known trademark Newport helicopter! Which rounded the evening off nicely and sent the fans home satisfied they’d just seen a force to be reckoned with!! SKINDRED!
Click on thumbnails for larger images:
