Skid Row - London Review

American hard rockers Skid Row make fairly regular trips to the UK, and seem to be undergoing a bit of a resurgence of late. While there are still many blinkered former fans who sadly will not give the band's recent line-ups a chance, there are plenty of us who still love what Skid Row have to offer. The band undertook a lengthy headline tour in the UK last spring, and opted to return less than a year later to headline another tour - this time in much larger venues and with a strong undercard of support acts. While only a reasonably short tour this time around, with only four shows booked, the venues chosen were some of the biggest the band have played in the UK for quite some time. When I saw first saw the band live back in 2013 they were playing at the tiny, now sadly demolished, White Rabbit in Plymouth I never imagined that I would be seeing them only a few years later headlining the O2 Forum in Kentish Town! This large upgrade in venue shows not only the band's own personal resurgence in recent years, but that of hard rock music in general too. It seems that year on year more and more fans are willing to head out and catch bands live again, which is great to see. Skid Row were always too good for venues like the White Rabbit, so seeing them play to a packed out O2 Forum really was a great sight. The band sold out the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire last year, admittedly with the help of Night Ranger, and while I do not think the O2 Forum was sold out this year it had to be pretty close to capacity! Of course the strong string of support acts certainly helped, with the Backyard Babies, H.E.A.T, and Vega joining Skid Row on this four-show tour, but I have no doubt that the majority of those in attendance were there to see Skid Row. Due to the size of the bill, the venue opened at 5pm with the music kicking off around half an hour later. The proceedings carried on until just before 11:30pm, which made for a very long evening of music! While this was quite hard on the feet at times, there was so much going on to enjoy that time just flew by.

The London show featured an extra opening act, with local rockers KilliT having the task of opening the evening. I had seen the five-piece last year at the Stone Free Festival at the O2 Arena and had quite enjoyed their set, but they impressed a little more this time around. I remember that the vocals were a little buried in the mix last time, but this time frontman Gaz Twist's powerful voice shone through and how showed that he has the makings of great frontman. He is a little more reserved and less glamorous than your average rock frontman, but he pulls the smooth, cool vibe off well. Niro Knox (guitar/vocals) is a great foil for Twist, and really drives the band forward with his bluesy riffing and loose, soulful solos. Being the opening band, it was inevitable that the sound would be less than perfect. Sadly the rhythm guitars were very quiet which meant that some of the depth was lost, and the bass did rather overpower everything at times. That being said, many of the solos and vocal line were still audible and allowed KilliT to show off their skills. Their six-song set was certainly very enjoyable, and got an evening of hard rock off to a great start.

The softest of the five bands was up next, and England's Vega hit the stage around 15 minutes later full of energy and ready to impress. I saw the band back in 2016 supporting Magnum but had not been able to catch them live since. While I am only really a casual fan of the band's albums, their concerts are a different story. Clearly not phased by being the second act of a bill of five, the British six-piece were brimming with confidence and treated the show as if it were their own - and for 40 or so minutes the stage really was their own! Opening with the tougher Let's Have Fun Tonight from last year's Only Human was a wise move, as the heavier riffing would have have drawn in some of those who may think some of the band's material is somewhat on the tame side, before hitting them with AOR anthems like Kiss of Life and Last Man Standing later on in their set! Frontman Nick Workman is a true rock star, and commands the stage as if he was born to do so. He has the voice to back the image up to, and he belted out chorus after chorus as if his life depended on it - ably assisted by Michael Kew (guitar/vocals) who added some Def Leppard-esque harmonies throughout. While the sound was not perfect, with James Martin's keyboards sadly buried in the mix, the band pushed through and put on a show worthy of a slot higher up the bill. It was great to hear the anthemic Stereo Messiah live again, complete with some excellent shredding from Marcus Thurston (guitar/vocals), and ending on the strident hard rock of Savin' Grace caught everyone's attention one more time right at the end. While there were plenty of Vega fans along with me down at the front, I would not be surprised if some of those loitering around near the back of the venue were converted with this excellent showing. The setlist was:

Let's Have Fun Tonight
Explode
Kiss of Life
Last Man Standing
Every Little Monster
Stereo Messiah
Worth Dying For
White Flag
Savin' Grace

Another AOR act followed, but Sweden's H.E.A.T are certainly more in-your-face and full of energy than your average exponent of the genre and had around 50 minutes to play with. It was only back in September of last year that I last saw the band, at the same venue no less, so I was excited to see the five-piece live again. With two shows at the same venue in a matter of months, the band wisely elected to shake up the setlist a bit this time around, although things got off once again with Bastard of Society from the band's latest album. The sound was not all that great back in September, but it was better this time with frontman Erik Grönwall's voice standing out. Sadly the keyboards were again quite buried (clearly this was not an evening for keyboards!) but overall H.E.A.T sounded strong, and when drummer Crash launched into the intro for Breaking the Silence the excitement levels really rose. Grönwall could arguably win the Frontman of the Night award, if such a thing existed, as his performance was stellar. He has such a roguish, but likeable, persona and he definitely had the whole crowd following his every move. Emergency, one of my personal favourite H.E.A.T tracks, was thrown out early on to the joy of the crowd, and the tougher hard rock of Shit City allowed Dave Dalone (guitar/vocals) to lay down some bluesy riffs. The soaring AOR of Living on the Run, arguably the song that got me into H.E.A.T back in the day, was another highlight, before the older Beg Beg Beg caused carnage with Grönwall's antics and snippets of AC/DC and Erma Franklin songs giving the crowd the chance to have a bit of a sing along. By this point I think even the most-sceptical in the crowd was willing H.E.A.T on, and two songs from 2014's Tearing Down the Walls album saw the set come to a close. The mid-paced keyboard-heavy Mannequin Show proved to a bit a brief, but welcome change of pace, before the foot-stomping anthemic A Shot at Redemption brought everything to an end. Those of us down the front really shouted the words back at the band, and as they took their bows the large crowd let out a big cheer. H.E.A.T had impressed nearly everyone, and their performance was certainly headline-worthy. I have now seen the band twice, and hopefully my third time will be at one of their own shows. The setlist was:

Bastard of Society
Breaking the Silence
Emergency
Shit City
Redefined
Living on the Run
It's All About Tonight
Beg Beg Beg/Whole Lotta Rosie [AC/CD cover]/Piece of My Heart [Erma Franklin cover]
Mannequin Show
A Shot at Redemption

After two AOR-based acts, the rawer punk rock sound of Sweden's Backyard Babies was certainly a shock to the system. I had seen the band put on a rather muted showing with Black Star Riders in 2017, so was not really looking forward to seeing them again, but this time they seemed to mean business! I had been disappointed with how tame the band had seemed a couple of years ago, but this time they were loud and raw - and perhaps better suited to acting as special guests to Skid Row rather than Black Star Riders. Down at the front there were a lot of Backyard Babies fans who helped to whip up a bit of atmosphere while the sullen Nicke Borg (vocals/guitar) and the crazy Dregen (guitar/vocals) traded dirty riffs, vocal lines, and fast bluesy solos during the band's hour or so on stage. I was not really familiar with any of the band's songs, but there were a few that stood out. Heaven 2.9 was a good mix of melodic vocal lines and punky guitar riffs, while the new single Shovin' Rocks filled the O2 Forum with raw, anthemic songwriting. Given the Backyard Babies' punk roots, it was surprising to see them also offer the evening's quietest moment with a song performed entirely acoustically. It was a nice change of pace however and it allowed the large crowd to see a different side to the band. It was business as usual after this however, and a few more upbeat punk numbers brought the set to a close. I had not expected to enjoy the Backyard Babies, so I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. Punk is not my favourite type of music, but the band put on a high energy show that blew the time I saw them in 2017 out of the water.

Despite a really strong bill, with all four bands impressing, it was Skid Row who were to put on the performance of the night! The band's show in London last year was quite short, but this time they pulled out all of the stops to deliver an 18-song setlist that contained a few lesser-known tracks as well as all of their classics. As with the previous Skid Row shows that I have seen, the night started off with Rob Hammersmith (drums) taking to the stage to start playing the intro to Slave to the Grind, with the rest of the band rushing onto the stage when it truly kicks in. It was a thrilling intro, and when frontman ZP Theart launched into the punky chorus the whole crowd was enthralled. What followed was an hour and a half of excellent music, and Big Guns proved to be the first big sing-a-long of the evening with the crowd shouting the chorus back at the band. Things started to get quite rowdy down at the front where I was originally stood so I decided to move further back to avoid a few people who had started to behave quite unpleasantly. Sadly there were quite a few in the crowd who did not seem to know how to behave, but luckily this did not affect my enjoyment of the night that much - especially after I had moved. There were a few songs featured which I had not seen the band perform before, and Psycho Love was one of, but this was then followed by a string of classics including the timeless 18 and Life which was sung perfectly by Theart and included a brilliant guitar solo from Scotti Hill (guitar/vocals). While some of the support acts had suffered from somewhat muddy sound, this was not the case for Skid Row. The guitars sounded big and powerful, and Rachel Bolan's bass cut through everything to give the set a lot of drive. Another lesser-played number Ghost proved to be a nice change of pace, but this gentler vibe was not to remain for long as Bolan then stepped up to the microphone for his customary take on the Ramones' Psycho Therapy. This moment of pure punk really got the crowd going, and this energy continued on into Medicine Jar, from 1995's underrated Subhuman Race. The heavy blues of the piece seemed to excite, and Theart really nailed the piece vocally. While Ghost had gone down well earlier on, the ballad that everyone really wanted was I Remember You so unsurprisingly it went down a storm when it was played. Dave 'Snake' Sabo (guitar/vocals) strummed away on his acoustic guitar while the crowd helped Theart out with the vocals - and it was an excellent moment. Monkey Business and Makin' a Mess then brought the main set to a close, and the crowd begged for more. No less than five songs, split into two encore sections, followed with the newer anthem We Are The Damned getting the latter part of the evening off to a great start. Get the Fuck Out and Mudkicker followed before the band left the stage again. I had assume they would just come back out to play Youth Gone Wild to finish everything up once and for all, but before that true anthem the crowd were treated to an excellent rendition of In a Darkened Room, another slower number but one with a bleaker vibe and lots of excellent guitar leads. Of course the aforementioned Youth Gone Wild was up next and it was easily the best-received song of the night. The crowd went crazy and the evening ended on a real high! The setlist was:

Slave to the Grind
Big Guns
Psycho Love
Sweet Little Sister
18 and Life
Piece of Me
Livin' on a Chain Gang
Ghost
Psycho Therapy [Ramones cover]
Medicine Jar
I Remember You
Monkey Business
Makin' a Mess
-
We Are The Damned
Get the Fuck Out
Mudkicker
-
In a Darkened Room
Youth Gone Wild

It is quite rare for a five-band bill to be filled with the quality to make the long night worth it, but this was an example of when it can work. The night felt more like a mini festival at times, with all five bands receiving strong receptions from the crowd and sets that were long enough to really make their points. Skid Row were the band of the night, but all five bands impressed!