Skid Row, Manchester Academy 2, 14/03/18
In a monologue halfway through their set, Skid Row reminded the audience that the last time they were in Manchester was almost five years ago. In fact, they played the NQ Live basement venue, one month before it burnt down. Since then, the band has upgraded venue size and also replaced lead singer twice, this time electing ZP Theart to fill the roll. He was officially recruited two months ago, but the chemistry on stage makes it seem like much longer.
Support for the evening, Bad Touch delivered an honest, straight to the point rock performance, leading them to stray far from wrong throughout their entire set. The British band’s sound links them to the old style groove of Led Zeppelin with a Southern American twist. One of their more catchier songs, ‘99%’, leads the listener into a trip of nostalgia, reminiscent of that from the opening soundtrack to a 1970s American police show. Lead singer Stevie Westwood’s bluesy style vocals are standout in their material, and fitting with the ‘Southern’ theme, they also did a song about cowboys. Good times.
Toseland powered through an execution of energetically heavy rock. Lead singer, James Toseland, is no stranger to being in the public eye. The frontman is also well known as being a former two-time World Superbike champion as well as being nominated for Sports Personality of the Year 2007. Before getting into the main part of their set, the Doncaster native jokingly thanked the audience for giving him the opportunity to “come over the hill”.
In comparison to Bad Touch, Toseland played a more varied style of setlist. With his Myles Kennedy-esque voice reaching impressive heights, James guided the band through the heavier half of their set, with impressive performances from guitarists Zurab Melua and Ed Bramford to help reinforce it. The latter half of the set came at a different musical angle, however, with James playing keyboard front and centre. This slowed down the tempo and put more emphasis on his singing voice, which wasn’t a bad note to end on.
Skid Row started on a bold note, with ‘Slave To The Grind’ eventually bleeding through the sound of an air raid siren, which the band entered to. Theart’s vocals were instantly impressive, with his range being something you would come to expect from the ex-lead singer of Dragonforce. However, the higher pitches often got lost under the chiming of the hi-hat, which often proved problematic.
With most of their setlist being comprised of their iconic 1989 self-titled album, it was clear to see that they were appeasing the audience, the majority of which would have been in the height of their youth at the time. On the contrary, although the band are working on new material at the moment, the last record they released was 12 years ago, so new material being played was really out of the question. Speeding through well known songs such as ‘Sweet Little Sister’, ‘Livin’ on a Chain Gang’ and ‘18 and Life’ the band included a few monologues to glue songs together, once joking that being in the venue was “closest we’ll ever be to being in a university”.
Taking a break from vocals, ZP Theart passed the mic over to bassist Rachel Bolan to lead a thunderous cover of The Ramones’ ‘Psycho Therapy’, his punky vocals being best suited for the rendition. Ending on the more sombre note of ‘In A Darkened Room’ and ‘I Remember You’ it helps cement the fact that Skid Row were and still are purveyors in some of the strongest lyrical ballads in rock. So strong in fact, that after they finished ‘In A Darkened Room’ the audience began chanting “play that song again” to which the band jokingly played the accompanying music to the chant.
Skid Row left the stage to ‘Youth Gone Wild’, an encapsulating, albeit ironic, statement. The 29-year-old song has aged well however, and although it may not be as fitting with the societal and political movements of the time, it still leaves you thinking that maybe youth is only a construct.
Catch Skid Row on tour throughout March. Dates below:
