(Concert Review) SKINDRED Live at O2 Apollo in Manchester, England (5/14/2019)

Skindred, are regular touring visitors to Manchester both as special guests to more larger names and also on their own regular headlining tours.Tonight however they are the opening act for Disturbed playing to a sold out venue for two nights! When this coupling was first announced I must admit to having expressed some reservations about what I felt was an unusual combination.  However these fears were allayed as soon as I entered the venue and saw that even with an early doors opening that many fans were eager to check out Skindred as well as the very popular Disturbed.

Opening up to the Imperial march theme song and then on “Big Tings” Skindred were immediately impressive from the outset.  Their huge wall of musical noise quickly engaged the crowd who responded with a huge wave of energy and emotion.  Front man singer Benji Webbe possesses both a charismatic personality and a huge vocal sound as he urged  the crowd to join in and actively participate in the bands performance.He appeared to be enjoying himself nearly as much as his audience .It was actually his audience because despite it being a Disturbed show,an almost full venue participated actively and were visually having a great night as a direct result of what was being delivered by Skindred themselves..Energy levels were at a premium and I was sure that the band must have plugged themselves into the electricity supply before going onto the stage. Skindred have quite literally been around the block for longer than I can imagine-I think almost for twenty years now-and indeed it is personally difficult to ever recall a time when their name wasn’t regularly appearing in the gig listings in the rock press. Benji engages and talks to the crowd often during the set and although he does sprout some well worn cliches its hard to diss what he says when he delivers it in such an effective manner that causes the listener to believe what he is passionately stating.  Declaring his love of metal as a musical genre with covers such as “Back in Black” and “War Pigs” (albeit in a different style) he wears his heart very much on his sleeve.