YOU wouldn’t expect a Carlisle music venue to be full on a drizzly Wednesday night, but it’s easy when you’ve got acts as talented as these.
Skids, a Scottish punk band that formed originally in the 70s, took to tearing The Old Fire Station a new one, playing songs from across their discography to a crowd of hardened and long-standing fans, and me – who before being asked to go along knew very little of the group.
I knew even less about the openers, Spear of Destiny, but am assured that this is on me, the two acts well worthy of their long-held praise and fame.
A few minutes in and it’s clear these two are the real deal – Spear of Destiny occupied the stage with a demeanour I’d describe as reserved, but in a way that must have been crafted over years of putting on a show of physical ferocity to a point where it just doesn’t really matter anymore and the music is still there – yet still it was unexpected.
A traditionally-formed rock ensemble with the addition of a saxophonist, Spear of Destiny’s sound was immaculate, with praise that must be shared between the players and the in-house tech team.
One gripe with rock shows, especially at places that don’t have decent sound guys, is that they can plainly sound distorted, muffled, and incomprehensible – with the culprit being anything from a poorly-performed sound check to something going wrong, or the acoustics being off. After the usual pre-show Spotify listens to accustom myself to what I was due to hear I feared this may happen, despite recent shows at the venue being fantastic for sound, particularly Electric Six.
Thankfully this wasn’t the case and the band were in good hands to perform their catchy and crowd pleasing rock melodies.
Onto the main act which I was really looking forward to, and rightly so.
Almost a polar opposite in terms of energy, the band’s aged frontman took to dancing the whole night while performing faultlessly with the accompaniment of the band.
This is a classic punk sound with easy to remember riffs and hooks, the political aura kept alive when frontman Richard Jobson modified one of his hooks to declare President-elect Trump a ‘w****r’ to a crowd that was mostly in agreement.
The energy was infectious, and prompted dancing and singing in the enthusiastic crowd; while I was less familiar with the material, it was enthralling.
Skids kept their set tight and were off leaving us wanting more, but there are few to nil bands making or performing this sort of music anymore – so when the opportunity is there to see them, I suggest you take it.
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