LIVE FROM THE PIT: Skindred

There's something fitting about SKINDRED choosing Banquet Records in Kingston as the launchpad for their new album, treating the sleepy suburb to two shows on the day before they release their newest album, You Got This. The beloved independent record store and events promoter has long been a cornerstone of the south west London live music scene and tonight, the night before You Got This hits shelves, they've packed the room to the rafters. It's also their second show of the day, following an acoustic set at The Fighting Cocks earlier. Two hours after their set at The Fighting Cocks, SKINDRED didn’t want to rest just yet. No, they wanted to go bigger and harder alongside a packed Circuit.

They arrive to the Imperial March from Star Wars, each member of the band taking the stage in turn as the room builds to fever pitch, people chanting the band’s name before they’ve even appeared. When Benji Webbe takes to the stage, he's wearing a white jacket with tassels, bedazzled and bearing the colours of his home flag, telling everyone present that he’s here and ready to make a statement and get people to mosh. This is the Sound opens the set proper, followed by Set Fazers and Rat Race, and by the third song, it's already clear that this crowd has come to give everything.

Radio 01633 / Jump / Jump Around feels like a mod podge of genres and sounds, perfectly encapsulating SKINDRED’s cult following. A SNOOP DOGG sample gets the whole room chanting along; the iconic Jet2 holidays jingle gets an electronica remix; Last Resort by PAPA ROACH resurfaces as a dubstep mash-up that probably shouldn't work but absolutely does. "I say Skin, you say Dred" rings around the venue. A circle pit opens up.Webbe calls it, grins at it, and calls it again. It’s clear that SKINDRED were more than ready to have a third concert on the spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TcW8u-NLAA

You Got This is the first of the new material, and the reception is immediate and overwhelming, as the crowd were chanting the title back in a back and forth with Webbe. It's a matured sound from a band who already had plenty to say for thirty years, showcasing Webbe's vocal range with real confidence. For a song that hadn't existed in most people's ears until tonight, it feels like it's been a SKINDRED staple for years. Kill The Power follows, hip-hop instrumentals for an intro before an immediate turn to metal that hits like a gear change you didn't see coming. "Kingston, you are amazing, thank you!" Webbe tells the room, and Kingston agrees.

Can I Get A brings the most overtly dancehall moment of the evening, with swaying arms, a room singing in near-unison and the warm communal energy of a song built around togetherness. "I dedicate this to all you beautiful people," Webbe says. "Keep loving, keep fighting, keep breathing." It lands the way it's meant to, encapsulating the themes and messaging behind their newest album, You Got This. Nobody follows with a brass intro that builds through Tommy Gleeson’s bass and Arya Goggins' drums before the guitar comes crashing in, the TikTok-famous track closing out the main set as an evident crowd favourite, and for very good reason.

The encore opens with the band just letting Boom play while the crowd sings along, which quickly segues into the song itself proper, letting Mikey Demus' guitar skills swing with a groove that makes the whole room move, and Webbe rapping with total command. Then War Pigs, sung along to in its entirety, before sliding into a dubstep remix that gets exactly the bewildered, delighted reaction it deserves. And finally Warning, at a pace that conveys every bit of urgency the title implies. By the breakdown, Webbe is holding up a blue sequined scarf alongside the crowd, shirts and scarves and other articles of clothing swinging overhead as the mosh pit opens up below. By the end of the set, Webbe is wearing a white tee with UNITY spray-painted across the back. Certainly, the unity was felt across the room and throughout the night, as everyone travelled to one south west London suburb to celebrate SKINDRED.

The show ends with flowers thrown to the crowd, as "Skindred" chants faded into the kind of cheering that tells you a room has given everything it had. Two gigs in one day, a new album out the next day, and SKINDRED played it with all they got, maximising the time they could spend with their well earnt fanbase.

Words and photos: Atoosa Salamat