We’d been looking forward to tonight’s show for a few weeks, tickets were purchased as soon as we saw them advertised on their website and with the added bonus of a photo pass being provided by the venue, we were good to go.

THE SKINTS have been described by Clash Music as ‘the torchbearers for modern British reggae music’, they effortlessly fuse a variety of styles including reggae, dub, ska, punk, rock dancehall and hip hop to create music that stirs your soul and moves your feet.

As we entered the venue, it was clear to see that tonight’s show was going to be a sell-out, not in the sense that the band have ‘sold out’, I mean that you would struggle to get many more people through the doors come the time the band took to the stage (you knew what I meant!)

Opening up proceedings was Plymouth based act CRAZY ARM. Dressed all in black, this heavy, punk/americana band really dominated the stage. Backlit in green and red and silhouetted into the audience they certainly did a fine job in warming up the room. Having never heard of these guys before, I am definitely planning on investing some time this weekend checking out their back catalogue.

After spending nine years out of the spotlight, Jay Malinowski and Eon Sinclair (aka BEDOUIN SOUNDCLASH) return with a new single ‘Salt Water’ which I am sure would make itself known on the setlist at tonight’s show. They performed a rather stripped back set which saw the band play to a full house. Their unique blend of reggae fused, alternative tunes cut with blue and pink lighting dazzled the audience. The set consisted of a mix of classic tracks and newer material from their latest album Mass which was released in October. The audience reaction to these guys was phenomenal and if you weren’t a fan at the start of the night, you certainly were by the time the set came to a close!

After a short change around on stage with gear being carried away and the new setup taking shape, it was time for the headline act.

With the lights down, a swimming pool safety demonstration announcement played as the band took to the stage with a huge cheer. This highly anticipated band saw the room literally as full as it could be, it was actually a struggle to move around the building which is a sure fire way of knowing that it was packed to the rafters!

One thing that always surprises me about this band is their ability to take to the stage and within the first few bars of their opening song, have the room up, dancing and singing along in unison, something that other bands should take note of and emulate as best they can for their own shows!

With lights and bubbles bouncing around the stage and into the audience, this band bought the house down and had everyone going absolutely crazy, if they thought for one moment that they were going to be let off gently with anything less than a 100% performance, they were very wrong. Despite it being a ‘school night’, the audience were clearly here to party and party they did until the last tones of the final song rang out around the room.

The Skints have the unique ability to take any song and, with their own magical formula, almost create something that could easily have been passed off as their own work, take for example, the cover version they did of Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)’ classic, you could hear elements of the original coming through but it was clearly The Skints that had given it a new lease of life with their own stamp being firmly etched all over it. Another cover version worthy of note was Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ which made an appearance during the encore, this was the tonic that helped to calm the seas before they closed the show with ‘Learning to Swim’, the opening track from their latest album which landed earlier this year.

As the band said goodbye and thanks to Exeter for an incredible reception and the lights came up, I looked around the room, seeing a variety of ages from all walks of life didn’t surprise me at all, for this is a band that possess the ability to be able to speak to anyone with their music, it makes no difference to them if you’re 14 or 74, if you ‘feel’ their music, you’re more than welcome and this my friends is EXACTLY how it should be!

Words and Pictures by Simon Hammett

To see ALL of the images from the show, click HERE