Live Review: Skindred - Olympia, Liverpool
25th October 2024
Support: As December Falls, Graphic Nature, Ward XVI
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Martin Hingley
With the queues on the M6 North bound left in the dust, I arrived at a new venue for me, The Olympia in Liverpool, to hear Ward XVI on stage, so I rushed through the side entrance reserved for people on the guest list and headed inside.
Having seen them supporting Lawnmower Deth last year, I knew what to expect from their theatrical stage show, and with their set in full swing, they are fun to watch with the black and white painted props offering many possibilities. Like when lead singer Psychoberrie disappears and comes back out swinging a chainsaw around with blood all over the head of another band member.
With songs like “Cry of The Siren” and “Toy Box” it offers a further insight into their crazy minds, with a doll faced person getting the crowd to clap along with full gusto. The two singers disappear into the crowd and push them back to form a huge circus pit, linking arms and then perform a sort of Russian Cossack dance before the pit starts. “A huge thanks to Skindred for having us and this is a new song”. With dual vocal, a decent slow mid-section, they end their set having won over a big section of the audience, and after a quick picture they climb off stage and just wander amongst the crowd.
Next up are nu metal upstarts Graphic Nature from Kent, who explode into life after the intro tape has finished with “Headstone”. The sound is big, heavy and fast with singer Harvey Freeman, asking for his mic to be turned up. “Blinded” has that big hardcore breakdown and behind the hooded bass player and guitarists we have small TV screens flashing all sorts of crazy images.
Freeman asks for the house lights to be turned on and then addresses the crowd, “Whose got our new album?” which is met with muted applause. Laughing, he continues, “well for those 6 who have it, you can teach the others what to do. When I sing it's making me sick man, you say it's making me fucking sick man”, as they rip into “Sour” which is a bit manic but sounds really good at the same time, “let's go mother fuckers, let's spin this place” and off the masses go.
With big sounding songs like the impressive “Killing Floor” and their mix of metalcore anthems with drum and bass beats, it’s a sound that goes back several years, yet nonetheless, they put an impressive performance. With Freeman keeping the bands energy high, the last two songs whizz along at a rapid speed as the masses in the pit are whipped into a frenzy, to bring an end to an entertaining 30 minutes.
As December Falls are another new band to me, and they wake a few people up when they explode into life without warning. The diminutive figure of vocalist Bethany Curtis then appears shouting “Make some noise” as they kick off with “Ride”. The frequent instruction to “get your hands in the air” is shouted out, and the crowd join in.
“We are called As December Falls and are here to warm you up for Skindred”. They fire up the title track from the album released last year called “Join the Club” and it song bounces along really well. With big sirens going off we are thanked for flying with ADF airlines as the guitarist makes a gesture to the crowd to make some room in the middle aisle as they fly headlong into “Mayday”
With more pop punk songs like “I Don’t Feel Like Feeling Great” and “Little by Little” they get the crowd involved and put on an enjoyable set. Guitarist Ande Hunter then tells us that, “we grew up listening to Skindred and they are such nice guys, this is truly amazing.” They end their set by asking for one big circle pit as “we know you can do it Liverpool, because our merch seller is from here and he told us what you can do” and with the sound of “Carousel” the crowd respond perfectly.
I was fortunate to see Skindred in Manchester back in March, when they put on one hell of a show at the Academy, so I was really looking forward to seeing them again. With Thunderstruck blasting out across the PA, the crowd clap and sing along, and the atmosphere is whipped up even more when the Star Wars Imperial March remix begins, and the band begin to appear one by one on stage.
With the storming “Set Fazers” starting, the spotlight goes to one of the boxes to the side of the stage, as our host for the evening, Mr Benji Webbe, appears there. Singing the first verse, the crowd erupts when they see him set foot on the stage “I want to see you all moving out there” as the phones are out, “come on Liverpool”. Followed by “World’s on Fire” the crowd are fired up and ready to party.
“Doom Riff” gets the audience really bouncing and then we get the first Webbe monologue of the evening. He’s not really a vocalist, or frontman, but much more of an entertainer, and he revels in that role. “We are holding auditions tonight for a Liverpool choir” and with a series of vocal warm up exercises and chants, he plays the crowd off against each other as the introduction “Rat Race”
During which, he sings a verse of the Oasis song Wonderwall” and with a room full of predominantly scousers, this is booed relentlessly, before Webbe quips back with a rapid “fuck off” and “my mam would be pissed off with you booing as I sing a song by one of my favourite bands” and starts another crowd sing along for a scintillating version of “That’s My Jam”.
We then get treated to the opening riff of Pantera’s Walk, Van Halen’s “Jump” and House of Pain’s “Jump Around” which just goes off in the crowd, then the flamboyantly dressed Webbe, appears in a pink hat and coat to spread the message of “L.O.V.E (Smile please) as he asks “let me see you dancing Friday night Liverpool style” and the groove is appreciated inside the Olympia.
“How many people have the new album” Webbe asks the masses. “We got to number two in the British charts, and we are so grateful to you and all the people in the surrounding areas for making that happen. We’ve been a band for 25 years and can’t thank you enough.” And as he introduces one of his favourite songs of their latest album, “because I wrote it” he tells the story of how it was all about his first love, Tracy, and she dumped him, “fuck off Tracy” as they roll into “This Appointed Love” which slows the pace right down.
He teases the masses by putting on a pair of glasses with the word BOOM on them, but instead play “If I Could” followed by “Kill the Power”. “Liverpool people, sing the words” as The Prodigy’s “Out of Space” gets an airing in between choruses. Now wearing his splendid white UNITY jacket, Webbe, like a conductor, leads his flock into another singalong, “hands up clapping and feet stomping” repeatedly being sung, as “Nobody” gets blasted out flowed by the show stopping “Gimme That Boom”
With shouts of “one more song” from their adoring fans, the quartet re-appear on stage, and kick off the encore with a stunning cover of Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” and with Webbe in a glittery blue coat, they end with telling the people to “get down, get down, even you at the front” as they finish with their trademark song “Warning” which sees the Newport Helicopter in full effect.
The smiles on people’s faces are enough to tell me how much they enjoyed this performance. With the other band members just allowed to get on with their jobs, Benji Webbe gives his audience exactly what they want, and that’s a show to remember and he certainly got the people of Liverpool dancing on a Friday night.
Photo credits: Martin Hingley
