Roots to this day remains one of the most influential albums of the groove/nu-metal genre. There was something that spoke to the listeners that still reverberates with many people 21 years on. As a way to celebrate that album, two of the members that took part in its creation, Max and Iggor Cavalera have been touring the world with their band performing it in full, and Brisbane just happened to be the lucky first stop for Australia.
I’m always keen on watching new things, and Skindred, who was the first band for the night fitted that bill perfectly. Being a band I had only heard of in passing, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by what they laid down. The band’s sound would be difficult to describe to anyone that hasn’t heard them before, but nu-metal fusion would probably be the best description because they managed to blend a whole lot together to make their huge sound.
The band had obviously done their homework and had the crowd in the palm of their hands before they had even walked out on stage by having ACDC’s Thunderstruck playing over the PA as they walked out, and from that moment on they only built momentum.
Their hour long set ran through songs that were familiar with the crowd and included newer tracks like “Sound the Siren”, which garnered a great deal of crowd feedback, but the measure of just how much the crowd enjoyed their set was during their final song when they had the crowd perform the ‘Newport Helicopter’, an act that saw the majority of the crowd take their shirts off and swirl them around above their head.
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The thing that impressed me the most about Skindred though wasn’t the bands performance or sound, but the engagement of frontman Benji Webbe. There are very few performers that could inject that much enthusiasm and honesty into a speech about living for the moment, or being inclusive towards everyone without making it seemed forced, or contrite. But Webbe did this on countless times throughout the show and won a ton of new fans in the process.
Now while the crowd had been a bit threadbare for the start of Skindred’s performance, it had well and truly swelled to the near 2000 capacity of the venue by the time that the Cavalera brothers and band took to the stage. The venue lit up as the brothers walked out, with the roar not dying down while the flanking band members Tony Campos and Marc Rizzo, before erupting again following the thunderous cry of “Roots, Bloody Roots!”
The ensuing mayhem was nothing less than expected with the crowd throwing themselves around in chorus with the track and it’s chugging riffs.There was no doubt that this was the song that most people were there to see, but the energy was that electric it seemed something that bit more special. Once Roots had finished, the mood quietened down as Max brought out a Berimbau for the introduction of Attitude, which I might add was really cool to see used in a live setting, but the mood quickly started moving again once Attitude came in full swing.
Musically the band performed really well, although it seemed like it did take a few songs for Max’s vocals to kick into strength. He performed well for the first few tracks, but the moment he put the guitar down for the first time and picked the mic up on its own his voice definitely gained that ferocity that he is known for. As for their remainder of the band, Iggorlooked effortless behind his kit, Marc Rizzo was perpetually flawless in his guitar sections, and Tony Campos has always looked comfortable with a bass in his hands.
There wasn’t any deviation on the albums running order, because this was the album that many had come out to see, but the band threw in a few covers that worked really well towards the end of their set. There was also some other times during the set where the band deviated from the normal sound of their tracks, blending in metal classics like Black Sabbath‘s Iron Man as an intermission during one song and doing a few other little things to help please the crowd .
As the band performed the title track for a final encore, the crowd once again got rowdy and gave the band a fitting send off. By this time a majority of the crowd was saturated in sweat and beers, and most left looking fulfilled after a great night.