It’s a Friday night and I find myself back in Birmingham again. It’s dark, it’s dank, and suspiciously cold, almost as if your chosen god of weather has spied I’m not sporting a coat! After a swift visit to Merlin’s for a pre-gig pint the ten of us who’ve plundered tickets make away across the city with a palpable air of anticipation. A musicfest awaits! A positive orgy of sound perhaps?
As it happened, it turned out this was the only Orgy in attendance as we were misinformed as to the presence of said band. “Orgy” are the band responsible for a most entertaining version of “Blue Monday” and I’d been looking forward to getting to see that live. Imagine my surprise when having battled through what seemed like an insane amount of people to get inside the venue, Spineshank are already 2 songs into their set. Colour me unimpressed!
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Speaking of unimpressed, let’s just ummm… go back a step… to the amount of people present. I chose my wording carefully, as there was simply no stepping forward for the whole evening. The place was rammed! Even tinned sardines would’ve described it as dangerously so, and given the amount of people I watched either leave or be helped out by medics, all looking distressed at best, well they’d’ve probably (the sardines!!) have actually been underestimating quiet how bad the situation was. Stage visibility was only possible because I’m 6 foot tall! My best guess would be a good 20% oversold but I suppose it’s possible that perhaps there were just a disproportionate amount of American visitors over for the show!
With no setlist to work from, barely a visual, and for some reason the strangest nagging feeling I’d anthropomorphized my supper into spatially aware and capable of talking entities, it it’s difficult really say too much about Spineshank’s performance. Their visit to KKs Steel Mill in Wolves not so long ago was much more accessible both figuratively and literally and while there’s no denying they still carried that caustic energy throughout their set and fortunately I recognized “Beginning of the End” and “New Disease” musically, but truthfully “Dead to Me” was the only song I could even catch a full lyric to, although the entertaining amount of swearing told me that “The Height of Callousness” was the song previous to it! People were already in the process of being carried out by now though and as I eyed an attempt at getting a bottle of £4 water in what should’ve been a respite the band headed off stage, the irony of a song title such as this in the face of such rampant capitalism wasn’t lost on me.
Alien Ant Farm actually carry something of a happy memory for me. In Dec 2001 I moved to Australia and if my memory serves me correctly they were at No.1 or there or there abouts in the charts through to my birthday in March 2002. There’s the obvious two songs everyone knows with “Movies” coming halfway through a tightly performed set which showed they’re still capable of mixing it up with the bigger boys in the yard. 
There’s an acknowledgement that this is their first time with Skindred for which they seemed pretty damn excited about, but it’s Halloween’s eve and I’ll admit to being mildly distracted as the second Spiderman of the night took one look upon entering, saw carnage, and turned round and headed back out of the door presumably deciding this was a fight he didn’t fancy. “These Days” followed this closely and the band got a chance to show some skill on their instruments at the end of this. The vocal was substantially better for AAF to be fair, noticeable from “Courage”, their first track, right through to “Smooth Criminal” which was received with suitable enthusiasm by those still upright. Curiously there sounded like twin vocals at various times in the set, but with barely a visual line of sight to the stage there was no way to establish who was helping Dryden Mitchell out. Nine songs was probably about right for this audience from the Californian band, and the aforementioned Mitchell seems to have gotten over his distaste in performing the Michael Jackson Cover if this performance is anything to go by. My notes raised an eyebrow at the fact that he actually sounded a little nervous on other songs, but there was none of that for their finale.
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So, one band missing, two bands down and easily triple figures having left either through their own volition or being lead outside for air by friends or staff, Skindred hit the stage. It’s fair to say I’m not especially versed in their back catalogue however, I’d done my research and Spotify is now testifying they’re one of my most listened to bands in October so I was in for a pleasant albeit not so big surprise! Coming on to a mix of “Thunderstruck” and Star Wars’s “Imperial March” is always going to press my buttons. “My People” kicks off a set of 16ish songs and there’s again a vast improvement in both vocal and instrument audibility, possibly due to the swathes now missing. Benji Webbe is clad in a coat so fluffy-looking that I’m surprised Luke Skywalker and Leonardo DiCaprio aren’t sheltering in there too, and he must’ve been cooking on stage! “Set Fazers” is loud firstly and foremostly but there’s lots of crowd involvement here, and I’m put in mind of Cab Calloway in The Blues Brothers and this carries through to “Rat Race”, which is notably bouncy.
It’s not long ‘til he loses the coat, which is understandable, and there’s a fair few outfit changes through the evening. There’s also several “guest songs” which punctuate the eve. “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “Back in Black” “Wonderwall” “Total Eclipse of the Heart” “Last Resort” and “Jump” all crop up in places, which I have to say, genuinely added to the entertainment. The music is curious, and hard to really label as it’s so driven by the vocal. Reggae and Metal probably shouldn’t go together but the way it’s done is as emphatic as it’s effective. At one stage even Pantera gets the cover treatment and it fits seamlessly as a Welsh flag (they’re from Newport, but you knew that, right?) is waved across the stage! “You Got This” reflects this, and I’m reminded of Cypress Hill’s “Can’t Get The Best of This” and how angry that sounds compared to most of CH’s catalogue.
There’s something of a semi pause midway through the set as the singer switches outfits leaving touring bass player Tommy Gleeson to take up the Dan Pugsley duties for the soloing/play along interlude although I’m using the formal name rather than “T Bone MF Steak” he was announced as! Consensus was/is he was good throughout the night and while I wasn’t close enough to get any idea of his technical skills visually I did note his was a driving sound that stayed constant throughout.
With the outfit change “Can I get A” brings a mellower sound and the inclusion of a sound very much like “Love of the Common People” befits this. There doesn’t appear to be an official acknowledgement of that but, it’s absolutely there. If you’ve not noticed it before, you will now!
Curiously the song I was expecting to be the encore, “Nobody”, lands as the song before the encore. It feels almost longer than anything that’s gone before, and is sung with gusto by the crowd. I’m not sure if said crowd were of the same mindset as I was, as Skindred say their standard “We’ll be back in 4 minutes” goodbyes a mass exodus ensues meaning there’s easily 40% gone before the encore from who were in the venue when I got there. Subsequently “Gimme that Boom” is missed by many but those who remain get more freedom to dance! There’s even a guitar mini-solo to be had here as the track is ending but there’s still more people heading out. “Warning” though bring some fun, especially for those who’ve bought merch, as the audience are encouraged to wave their spanking new tops above their heads which is greeted with enthusiasm, especially as there’s now room to swing a cat finally!
As the evening draws to a close to the dulcet tones of “Nobody Does it Better”, I’m left to reflect on the evening: Skindred were good enough that I’d go again to see them, especially were they in somewhere a tad larger. I enjoyed the sound, enjoyed the theatre that went with it, and the enthusiasm of the band and the people watching them.
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Soil the next day, had something to match up to