LIVE: SKIDS – Perth, 11 May 2024

LIVE: SKIDS – Perth, 11 May 2024
With The Grots – Rosemount Hotel, Perth
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

It took forty-five years for Scottish punk/new wave outfit Skids (no definitive article, thankyou) to make it to Australia, and frontman – main man, and only original man standing – Richard Jobson lapped up the opportunity, delivering a show which far exceeded expectations.

First up was new local outfit The Grots, playing their brand of proper old school Britpunk – fast, furious, shouty and in yer face, with the energy dial turned up to eleven. Sick, Throwing In The Towel and others got fists pumping, throats roaring, and the room temperature up. Not bad at all for a trio who have only been together around six months.

As Jobson & Co take the stage for 1979’s Charade it’s obvious that the five piece are well-honed and in fighting shape. There’s a finesse to their sound that doesn’t detract from the raw punk energy, and the sound is crystal, every ringing note, every syllable perfectly clear.

Jobson is a natural comedian and he’s relishing in the opportunity to share anecdotes throughout the night. It’s hardly a shock when considering he has a long history not only as a singer, but also as a television presenter back home in Scotland, and as a poet, author, and filmmaker.

He introduces classic The Saints Are Coming talking about his ire at being asked “why did he cover a Green Day/U2 song,” when of course they covered his and Stuart Adamson’s track for charity in 2006. It’s all good-natured banter though, and he has an amiable storyteller’s way about him which is never anything less than entertaining and often cracks the audience up.

Talking of ire, the non-stop-chatty fuckers in the crowd are given no amnesty, with Jobson’s scathing tongue railing against them on several occasions for not shutting the fuck up while the band were playing. The rest of us, of course, approved loudly of his stance.

Working For The Yankee Dollar still sees Jobson dancing like a peppy prize pugilist, but even he admits that at 63 it tires him out more than it used to. Mind you, he also used to be a violent alcoholic (he wrote the novel and wrote & directed the film 16 Years Of Alcohol about his and his brother’s darker experiences with the drink), so perhaps clean and sober he’s more on form than he ever was.

Destination Dusseldorf is a newer track, from last year’s album of the same name, and as instantly catchy as the rest, before Jobson takes time out to pay homage to friend and fellow founding member, the late Stuart Adamson, who left Skids after their third album to form Big Country.

Hurry On Boys is a chant-along classic, while TV Stars – “absolute garbage” says Jobson, who made the song up about the Coronation Street character Alvert Tatlock on the spot for a radio session – may be a throwaway, but it’s an irresistible and much-loved one judging by the crowd’s participation.

Complete Control is a homage to The Clash, who Jobson says inspired him to make music and get him away from other, darker paths, then Masquerade – his favourite Skids song, he tells us – leads into their biggest hit, 1979’s Into The Valley and set closer The Olympians.

It took forty-five years to get here, remember, so he wasn’t about to leave us hanging just like that, with a first encore comprising 1978 single Sweet Suburbia and new track Here We Go Again, which segues into Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side, fittingly augmented by twinkling lights from the resident disco ball above the stage.

It’s been a fantastic and immersive show already, but arguably the biggest surprise – certainly the most moving moment of the evening – comes during a special second encore, featuring only Jobson himself on the stage. After insisting on some quiet, he channelled his poet’s soul and sang acapella Eric Bogle’s moving – heartbreaking – And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, about a soldier who loses his legs in the war, and there must be dust in our eyes because they’re all watering.

We were expecting a fun night of great tunes – we weren’t expecting one of the best gigs of the year. Let’s hope they don’t wait another forty-five years to return.

Set List:

Charade
Of One Skin
The Saints Are Coming
Working for the Yankee Dollar
Destination Dusseldorf
Circus Games
Hurry On Boys
A Woman in Winter
TV Stars
Complete Control
Masquerade
Into The Valley
The Olympian

Sweet Suburbia
Here We Go Again / Walk on the Wild Side

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Category: Live Reviews