Live Review : Volbeat + Skindred + Napalm Death @ First Direct Arena, Leeds on December 16th 2022

Well, this is something I thought I would never see. A full production Volbeat arena show here on these very shores. You see, over on the continent the Danish Bluegrass metallers occupy the premium slot in the market. They slay stadiums and perch atop of festival bills. However, their ascent here in the UK has been much more gradual and palatial. Over the years they have slowly but surely moved from academies to Apollo's and now their persistence has led them to the gates of this country's arenas. They are still to penetrate the consciousness of the mainstream (there were rows of blank faces when I explained to work colleagues who I was off to see this evening) but Leeds Arena is full of vermont and vitriolic Volbeat fanatics from all corners of the North of England. We may be in the festive season but there is definitely a feeling of celebration here tonight. A communal joy that can be only achieved by being in the same room as thousands of others who share the same obsession as yourself. 

But before we worship at the altar of Micheal Poulsen and Co, there is an eclectic undercard to relish. Napalm Death are ubiquitous with extreme metal. Everybody knows the name, even your Gran, and everyone has a fair idea of what they sound like. There is a sizeable curious crowd gathered and you can tell that for the vast majority, whilst they know the name, this is the first time they have witnessed them live. It is a credit to Barney and the crew that they don't dilute or tamper what they are in order to pacify a, for them, mainstream audience. They go for it full throttle, chucking out tracks as if they were grenades and 16 songs in half an hour is very much the Napalm Death way. Barney takes great delight in informing the partisan throng that the short sharp bursts of music that they just heard, wasn't them tuning up it was an actual track.

They are coarse and corrosive and for many they are just not their cup of tea (there is a steady flow of people out of the arena and into the sanctuary of the concession stores) but they are fiercely Napalm Death. They never concede and they never surrender. For 40 years they have been the pure definition of unadulterated ugly music. If it is not your thing, then great. But tonight, as they do every night, Napalm Death flew the flag for uncompromising extreme metal and did so with astonishing precision and tenacity.

If there was a man born for a vanity ramp, then it is Benji Webbe. You can only imagine the joy in his eyes when he realised what Volbeat were giving him to play with. The horseshoe platform reaches far into the arena’s standing area and is very similar to the setup that Metallica has used for many years. He spends the opening number ‘Stand for Something’ on the main stage but from ‘Rat Race’ onwards he is off, hurtling around the ramp like it was his very own playground. Benji is a self-proclaimed man of the people and a protruding stage structure allows him the opportunity to make eye contact with as many of them as possible. He encourages copious renditions of the Yorkshire song, playfully banters with those in the front row and chastises Rockflesh’s very own Johann Wierzbicki for shoving a lens in his face. 

Skindred are a party band with a strong political conscience. Their material veers from the good-time boogie of ‘Gimme That Boom’ to the ferocious dissension of ‘Kill The Power’. Their secret is the fact that they do both incredibly well. Benji is an agitator and ringmaster. Switching from societal commentator to clown at a moment’s notice. They utterly own the place and the hordes that fled Napalm Death's incendiary grind are now firmly in-suite and going utterly nuts. It's the Friday before Christmas and Skindred perfectly captures that desire to let your hair down and party hard. For years, their exit music has been Carly Simon's ‘Nobody Does It Better’ and as ever it is incredibly apt. There is nobody who does this type of barnstorming, party-starting, dub-metal better. No matter what your dispensation is, this is a band precision engineered to turn a frown upside down.

Metallica’s decision to charge people upwards of £400 for the honour of spending time with them, has seen them permanently abdicate from their position as the band of the people. Volbeat are however standing in the wings ready to step into the spotlight and claim the title. This evening they are utterly fantastic. Michael may well have a heavy head cold, as he tells us early on, but that doesn't stop them from being completely on-point. The staging is nothing short of extraordinary. They have "borrowed" Metallica's concept of the snake pit, renamed it the parasite pit, and made it utterly their own. Micheal, Rob and Kasper spend most of their time traversing the circular vanity ramp, communing with as many of their faithful as possible. There are points where Jon seems a little lost stuck back on the main stage by himself, but the stunning visuals more than compensate for the fact that the band, for the main, breaks out of its confines. Yes, I know it's been done before, but the far-reaching vanity ramp brings an astonishing fourth dimension to the show, and from my privileged position within the parasite pit, it feels like the band are playing all around me.

They may well be on the road to promote last year's “Servant of the Mind” but they don't go to town in including it in the setlist. We get three solitary visits and instead the show is a comprehensive gallop through their eight studio records. Every base is touched at least once and the evangelical nature of the following exerts itself in the fact that veteran tracks such as ‘Sad Man's Tongue’ and ‘Still Counting’ receive the same fevered reception as material from ‘Seal the Deal’ and ‘Let's Boogie’ and ‘Rewind, Replay, Rebound’. This is a well-orchestrated and immaculately rehearsed arena show where nothing is left to chance, but the added frisson that Volbeat bring is that human vulnerability. There may be more lights, confetti and streamers than Broadway, but you are still watching a hard-drinking and hard-living rock 'n' roll band. They never let all the bells and whistles get in the way of the fact that this is a rock band playing rock songs. 

There is also a charm and down-to-earthiness about the whole thing. Watching their faces, you get the distinct impression that they never take this for granted. They have not been seduced by their own press and they are all genuinely chuffed that we have chosen to be here this evening. Michael makes a specific effort to note that there will be some who had to choose between paying bills and being here tonight and there is an honest emotionality in his voice as he thanks us for our dedication to his band. The term "keeping it real" is thrown about, but this is a band that still has its feet firmly on the ground. They know all of this could end tomorrow and they are enjoying every minute of it whilst it is here.

The concept of an encore is played with, but we all know what's happening. By this point, the arena is a cauldron of blissful happiness. To a person, this is an audience that loves this band and they are just reveling in the opportunity to break bread with them. ‘Let it burn’, ‘Die to Live’, ‘Pool of Booze Booze, Booza’ and the aforementioned ‘Still Counting’ are thrown out in quick succession as the band amuses themselves with a few more circuits through the multi-layered playground. It's slick and it's polished but it still feels immaculately real. There are so many arena shows where it is obvious that the band is just going through the motions and it is more about the spectacle than the performance but not tonight. Volbeat want to be here, they are chuffed to be here and most importantly they still can't quite believe that they are here. They are still a boogie bar band playing bluegrass-influenced metal, it just so happens that they have got a massive canvas to create it upon. As we disappear into the cold Yorkshire night we leave with the warm glowing feeling that the band had as much fun this evening as we did and that shared experience is what makes Volbeat so different from anybody else.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Volbeat, Skindred