Skid Row - Try to bring on the 'Riot Act' at the Electric Ballroom!!!

November 5th 2013

London, Electric Ballroom, UK

***1/2

Skid Row are more Punk than ever!

Skid Row ***1/2 come onstage at a disadvantage after Ugly kid Joe absolutely tore the place apart just before them. This awesome double headline tour must be a dream for some fans, because for the normal price to see one of these titans of Rock they get to see two, I don't envy anyone that has to follow Ugly kid Joe though because Whitfield Crane is a simply awesome frontman. Skid Row did not sell over twenty million records for nothing though and tonight they start off well with the track 'Let's Go' which get's everyone moving just right for a good set by the band. They continue with the mammoth hit 'Big Guns' which is one of the best tracks that Skid Row have in their arsenal to bring out. This results in a sing-a-long in the crowd and a bit of a jive to 'Makin' a Mess' and 'Piece of Me' which both go down well in their own way, with 'Piece of Me' having some balls to it.

This is the way 'Piece of Me' is meant to be played but I do think that most of the balls for this song comes from Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill and Dave 'The Snake' Sabo because by the time they come to tracks like '18 and Life' you can hear that singer Johnny Solinger doesn't sound quite right on certain tracks. Yes he can do the more aggressive tracks pretty well but some of the softer tracks are just a little too different for my liking, and he should have really got them by now being with the band for over fourteen years. I don't really think this his fault though he is a very different singer to Sebastian Bach and maybe Skid Row wasn't really the right band for him but least he has given it a good go and songs from their last EP 'United World Rebellion (Chapter 1)' sound pretty good. I know when I played them at home I was on my feet.

'Get the F**k Out' sounds pretty good and gets some people jumping around, while 'In a darkened Room' goes on a little too long for my liking but I have always prefered the heavier Punk / Rock tracks that the band have produced. New track 'Kings of Demolition' is Johnny's finest moment in the set and it sounds pretty damn good before Rachel Bolan goes on vocals for the highlight of the set a shove your granny to the pavement version of the classic Ramones track 'Psycho Therapy' this is so cool. The 'Riot Act' continues this high standard and even gets me going totally crazy to it until I am greeted with a quite interlude for 'I Remember You' which I don't really enjoy that much and should do because it's a song that I have always loved. Even with the slight let down of 'I Remember You' my low moment doesn't last for long, because they play a kick ass version of 'Monkey Business' that makes you go insane like a monkey on steroids and is a great closure of the main set.

The crowd seem to really enjoy encore opener 'Quicksand Jesus' which see's many smiley faces singing the song and their is a little stadium Rock moment in the London venue, before they play the song most people in the crowd have been waiting for 'Slave to the Grind' which is a real let down and does not have the intensity as it used to have. They end the set with mega anthem 'Youth gone Wild' which even people that don't know Skid Row that well in attendance are singing every word to. They did really well for a band that has been going so long and I would go and see them again, but this is a band that should be filling arena's not a Sold Out gig at the Electric Ballroom in Camden so in a way it's a little sad but they are well worth going to see.