By the time The Skints took the stage on Saturday night, Birmingham’s Institute was absolutely packed full and almost overflowing. The far too small Library room quickly became a sweatbox – even before the band had started playing, with the bars becoming overcrowded and annoyingly understaffed.
Eventually The Skints took to the stage and were joined by Horseman and Tippa Irie as they kicked things off with “This Town”, taken from their new record FM. On the whole tour they’re accompanied by Horseman, Tippa Irie and Rival which really adds another dimension to the set and allows the songs from the new record to really come alive.
The show was heavy on songs from FM, all of which were played perfectly, sometimes featuring a myriad of different instruments. By the time they’d got about half-way into the set, everyone in the room was dancing and singing along, and while the new songs sound great live and went down amazingly well, it was “Rise Up” and “Rat-a-Tat” from Part and Parcel which stood out. This was topped only by the closing performance of “Culture Vulture” which rounded out the night perfectly.
The Skints are a great band, they’ve absolutely blown up over the past few years and it’s definitely weird seeing them sell out huge rooms like the Library at the Institute, but they can more than handle it. They’re musically tight and just tons of fun to watch live.