7th October 2021.
Opening up are the fiery Saint Agnes whose fresh spirit lights up the gradually filling venue. Although fairly unknown they take control and get the crowd invested in their set head banging along to their angsty riffs and attitude.
This tour sees three main supports covering different nights and tonight sees the St Albans rockers Trash Boat out to grab the audiences attention. Some heads bang whilst others watch from a distance. A slightly odder support compared to that of heavier Raging Speedhorn and the charismatic Jamie Lenman.
It’s time for the mighty mighty Skindred, a band who are known for their lively performances fronted by Benji whose charm and onstage banter can lift any drag of a day. You know you’ll be leaving with a smile on your face.
Skindred are one of those bands that always appear to be everywhere. Headline tours, summer festivals, award shows, Facebook, they seem to crop up everywhere. For a band of this calibre the last two years must have been hard having to spend so much time off the road.
Dressed in a bold red suit featuring a massive lightning bold, topped with a red feathered top hat and sunglasses with studs that could kill a cheer erupts as the whole band take to the stage and open with ‘Stand For Something’. The crowd is wild tonight, the front rows filled with joyous faces. I do adore a crowd that love a good metal shirt, looking around you can spot various nu-metal fans in every direction.
Benji is quick to confront the last few years of misery and how glad there are to be back touring. The sandwich challenge is welcomed back and a young lad is plucked up on stage who, in local band fashion, is instantly taken the mick out of for being from Duffryn in Newport. As the countdown timer blares over the speakers it’s a tense 30 seconds and unfortunately he doesn’t complete the challenge but the band as a good gesture let him have a free shirt.
‘Saying It Now’ gives the crowd a breather and shows off the bands capabilities that they aren’t just a one trick pony before ending the set with ‘Nobody’ and most notable ‘Warning’ that sees the crowd do the famous Newport helicopter.
A local crowd was always going to be a rowdy one from start to finish and with a band like Skindred who always deliver the goods, there is the question of what’s next for the band? A new onstage challenge? A new album release date? Apparently they have been in the studio recently for what could be their 8th studio album but for now, as Benji best put it, a Skindred show is a celebration of life.
Setlist:
Stand For Something
Rat Race
Sound the Siren
Doom Riff
Pressure
That’s My Jam
Ninja
(Sandwich challenge)
Kill The Power
Saying It Now
Nobody
Warning
8/10
