SKIDS @ THE 100 CLUB, LONDON

Due to release their eighth studio album in June, the Scottish folk-punk rockers played two intimate sold out dates at London’s classic venue, a show frontman Richard Jobson stated the band had always wanted to do. They played a traditional setlist taken from their first three studio albums – ‘Scared To Dance’, ‘The Absolute Game’ and ‘Days in Europa’ – varying their live performances, such as in ‘Of One Skin’ with grinding down guitar.

Skids then played for the first time live their brand new single, ‘Destination Düsseldorf’: a combination of rhythm section and typical Skids soaring guitars and lyrically about the cultural pull of the German city. They also performed ‘Melancholy Soldiers’ from their debut album, which Jobson stated was the early band trying to find its sound, with buzzing guitar, and ‘Into The Valley’, which was updated with a bass intro and guitar interludes. As usual, Jobson told comical stories throughout the set from his days of punk, such as meeting Sid Vicious in SEX while in the Kings Road buying a pair of leather trousers and going to see him play drums in Siouxsie & The Banshees, before riding back to Scotland on a motorbike. Unfortunately, additional new song ‘Don’t Stop’ was missed off towards the end of the set, with the band finishing on their cover of The Clash’s ‘Complete Control’.

17/03/23: Skids @ The 100 Club, London.