LIVE: SKINNY PUPPY – April 14, 2023

Venue: The Fillmore6

City: Charlotte, NC

Date: April 14, 2023

Review and Photographs by: Jacob Smith (www.jhs-photo.com)

Playing to a sold out very enthused crowd over at The Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina; Skinny Puppy maintained their position as one of the best bands in the Industrial/Electronic world. Paul Barker *formerly of Ministry* opened the night with his band Lead Into Gold for a small set that helped set the mood for the rest of the evening.  Skinny Puppy took the stage to much fanfare and excitement. The first two songs were with Ogre singing and moving behind an illuminated screen for some shadow performance work. At the beginning of the third song he made his entrance to the stage covered in a cloak and full cover. They played through various songs from over their 40 years as a band with some gems and some not-so-played songs included. This tour was their 40th Anniversary and they recently decided Final tour for them as a band. The evening was an absolute fun filled event. Everybody in attendance was singing and enjoying their performance.

This performance was kind of bittersweet for me being a long-time fan of theirs. Having seen them play a few times over the years, seeing them one last time was sad but needed. Unfortunately, with this tour it wasn’t the most dynamic with visual stimulation like other tours. I don’t know if it was just the house lighting or tour lighting in general but the stage show was very poorly lit and you really couldn’t see what they were doing on stage. The stage show was more reminiscent of an ohGr show than a Skinny Puppy show. Which is fine by all means but not what one would typically expect. Part of the whole stage production was lost due to being very darkly lit. Sound was great. The band members seemed to really enjoy playing; it was visually lost due to the lighting. Overall it was a bittersweet end to an era with a lackluster presentation on the stage. The band themselves are amazing and sounded great, just the performance wasn’t the best. But then again. Greater Wrong of the Right was one of my top 10 live shows I have ever seen and really nothing can trump that one so it was a hard bar to set for a final performance in my eyes.  As a pretty much life-long fan thank you for everything and putting out one last tour for us fans. I’m still glad I was able to make one of these final shows.

Setlist: VX Gas Attack – I’mmortal – Twisting – Rodent – wornin’ – Tormentor – Love in Vein – Human Disease (S.K.U.M.M.) – Hardset Head – Pedafly – Morpheus Laughing – The Choke – Worlock – Inquisition – Dig It – God’s Gift (Maggot) – Assimilate – Deep Down Trauma Hounds – Candle

[Show as slideshow]

SKINNY PUPPY LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries