'Skindred'
Rock City, Nottingham
Review by Alex Wilson
Opening act Me Vs Hero put on a great warm up performance with lots of energy and audience interaction to get people moving early on in the gig. Follow up Chiodos performed a strong set getting the crowd further motivated before Skindred made an appearance and both acts did well to power through some technical issues early on. However early chanting proved that Skindred were who everyone was waiting for and when they finally made their appearance I was blown away.
Skindred’s front man Benji owned the stage from the second he walked out in his sparkly silver suit. The band had everyone moving from the moment they started playing with their signature mix of reggae-like grooves and heavy riffing. Crowd participation was a big part of the show with several call & response sections between Benji and the audience, at one point he got everyone doing the robot and towards the end convinced most of the crowd to remove an item of clothing and wave it in the air. Benji’s mid set motivational speeches were nothing short of inspirational, his vocal talents and sheer energy on stage leave no doubt that he was born to perform with Skindred.
After a small wardrobe change Skindred also managed a 3 song encore starting with the crowd pleasing ‘Stand For Something’. Overall this is definitely one of the better gigs I’ve seen and Skindred are certainly a band that must be seen live as their recorded material, while excellent, doesn’t compare to their live show.