Skindred – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Review: Skindred, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
It’s crazy to think Skindred have been around for 20 years already. Especially given the band were pretty much a continuation of former project Dub War, featuring Benji Webbe and bass player Daniel Pugsley for a few years previously.
However, given their longevity, the majority of the crowd was in fact fairly young. Not that it matters of course, but it’s always interesting to look around at the dynamics of an audience. Although given the crossover of influences within the headliners, surprisingly this was predominantly a room full of metallers.
Skindred themselves though go far beyond metal. There’s reggae and dancehall, as well as a few drum n bass loops in there too. If you were to file Skindred, then they’d be in the niche pigeonhole of ragga-punk. It’s a genre which if you were to try and Google, pretty much exclusively features Skindred/Dubwar and 70’s hardcore punks Bad Brains.
Benji Webbe – Skindred
Skindred – Big Tings at the Wedgewood Rooms
So, how were Skindred at the Wedgewood Rooms? They were, as always, on top form. Benji Webbe is a superb frontman. The Welsh Rasta luring the crowd in with lots of interaction, but he also has a knack of pressing the right buttons. Quite literally in fact, randomly dropping the Prodigy’s “Out of Space” mid-set which, in any other show, would have been for no obvious reason.
The set had already got off to a strong start with “Big Tings”, “Selector” and “Pressure” all released in quick succession. There was even room for guitarist Mikey Demus to chuck in the riff from AC/DC classic “Back in Black”.
Review: Skindred, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms 2018
Towards the end of the main set Benji let go of his larger than life persona for a moment with an emotional “Saying it now”. An acoustic track expressing his regret for not visiting an old friend before they passed away.
While you could feel the singers genuine personal upset, Benji was still in good humour once the tears were wiped from his eyes. The tempo then being immediately restored and killer track “Nobody” went on to end the main set. As for the encore, it was only the obligatory one number. Having provided the support for the night, it was down to Jayce Lewis to help close the night, joining Skindred for a double vocal version of “Warning”.
Review: Skindred, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms 2018
