SKINDRED + BLACKGOLD – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 18.9.25
I’m not sure what it is this year, but I seem to be going to quite a few heavy hitting gigs at the Concorde 2, who of course are celebrating their 25th anniversary and tonight’s gig organised by Lout is expected to be no exception. I have arrived close to doors opening and there is a huge line outside, probably the longest I’ve witnessed at the venue, there are going to be no stragglers arriving 5 minutes before the main set this evening, what struck me was the strong mix of ages in the line, well-seasoned to fresh faced, everyone mostly dressed in black, with many a punk fashion sense and some amazing haircuts to boot, this really looked like a line of folks who were all bringing their A-game, will the bands too, let’s find out.
This is a band completely new on me, but I am aware they have supported Skindred a fair bit previously, including their last Brighton gig at Chalk in 2023, (Review HERE) they were also part of The Great Escape 2024 line up so no strangers to Brighton.
Blackgold are London based and the band’s identity is a mystery and their look reaffirms this, a mixture of American Football/Basketball type tops over body concealing shorts, long socks, overhead balaclava type head coverings, all wearing a variety of striking black and gold masks and gloves, with a sprinkling of neck chains and hats. It certainly is a look you are going to remember and talk about, it no doubt will draw comparisons with bands like Slipknot, not that their musical styles are the same.
The core band features a drummer, a guitar player, a DJ, a bass player and the main singer/rapper called $pookz. Whilst tonight none of the band were mentioned by their stage names, I’ve done some digging and found out they are called Lux, SP3, Judge and 6Six, occasionally a sixth person later identified as KC would come to the stage, mostly to film, photo and dance, but also he did rap towards the end of the set. So we now know what the band look like and I am really looking forward to hearing what they actually sound like.
At 8pm on the dot, the lights went out and an ominous backing sound and American female recorded message played out “The space in which you are standing is about to become unstable due to dirty bass lines, big slamming beats and bars and DJ cuts that are a hazard to humanity, we urge everyone to look after one another, your safety is important to us, we urge you all to participate in getting the f*ck up, may God be with you all.” Red spot lights beamed down and the DJ’s beats kicked in as the band took positions on stage and ripped straight into the very lively ‘It’s Art’ of which the chorus “Blackgold in the house fool, Blackgold in the house get up” wasn’t going to leave anyone doubting who this power wave of nu metal energy was coming from.
Frontman and vocalist $pookz was all about getting the crowd going throughout this set, instantly telling us “Whoever isn’t drinking, get your hands up and clap, no excuses, I can see you…clap” as they took us into ‘One Chance’.
“Brighton where’s my ravers at” shouted $pookz as the DJ kicked in some drum and bass midway through the following number ‘Wake Up’. This was just one aspect of the melding of sounds, beats, the guitars and pounding drums throughout this set, it all worked so well, the look, the sounds, it is definitely in the nu-metal pigeon hole, but brings far more to the table.
Next up we had ‘Sound Of The Underground’ an early 2022 track from their first EP, starting with sirens blaring, it was song that burned with energy, part way through $pookz calmed it down putting his finger to his lips and started the chorus in a hushed tone “We need fire in the streets, we need fire in the cities, where Blackgold ride, we show no pity” before the jet engine of the guitar roared in and everyone was encouraged to clap once more.
$pookz once more kept stoking the fire in the crowd, “We need to warm you people up for Skindred, There’s some old bones out there, but there’s some young mother*cking bones too, GET UP” as the music went defcon -one once again. Everyone was told to jump as ‘Social Blackout’ got played. This one I really liked, I’d listened to it a few times during the day on YouTube to get a flavour of what might come this evening, a proper banger of a song, great lyrics all about social media and all so so true. Next came ‘Dance Like That’ a song that had lots of nods to the 90s. “We’re here for a Skindred party right?” questioned $pookz as a sample from The Prodigy’s ‘Breath’ came from the DJ as the sound morphed into ‘Today Is My Day’, a song that had very atmospheric quiet moments, but then contrasting with full on rage, needless to say the mosh pit opened up for business during this number.
The band left the stage at this point leaving just $pookz and the DJ on the stage, dropping a proper old school beat, for what was indeed ‘Old School Sound’, this had some real Beastie Boys vibes going. The 6th person who had been appearing now and then on stage filming and taking photos was introduced as KC and also rapped alongside $pookz. I believe he was taking the part that is rapped by Hyro the Hero from when it was originally released as a single back in 2023. The rest of the band came back on stage as the DJ was told to put on more old skool sample and songs, which he did, $pookz got a big laugh from the crowd with “DJ that was a vibe, but I need these people to shit all over the floor right now”.
‘On Another Level’ came next before a brand new one coming out on their next EP called ‘It’s A Crazy World’, another powerful song, so so much energy, brilliant topical lyrics. The mosh pit was in full flow, with $pookz getting the crowd to fully “open it up” mid song, “That should ruffle a few feathers” he quipped at the end referencing some of those very tasty thought provoking lyrics.
With no break in action the DJ put on some Mexican music much like you would hear from an old Clint Eastwood Wild West move and they had everyone sway their arms in the air, during this $pookz told us they’ve been going 3 years now, the crowds are getting bigger and bigger, which led him to asking us if we wanted to hear a bit of Cypress Hill referencing their cover from 2022 that they did with Jason Aalon of Fever 333, this was a quality cover, booming beats, but in full on nu-metal style with guitars. The set finished with the excellent ‘Boogeyman’ and the band taking a posed photo with the crowd whilst the backing vocals of Coolio’s ‘Gangsters Paradise’ played out.
Wooooah mama, what can I say about that set, a full on solid 45 minute explosion of energy and power, blending nu-metal, rap and hip hop. I was picking up flavours of Rage Against The Machine, Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys, and Limp Bizkit in there. The stage personas and outfits really add something, but the tightness and professionalism here is off the chart. The lyrics to the songs were easily understood, funny, topical, lots of references to things from the 90s I noticed, so whilst the bands identities are hidden, make no bones of it, it does not hide their musical prowess. I can’t wait to see this band again, they are going up up, up. Their new fourth EP ‘Phone Home’ is out on 24th October 2025.
Blackgold:
$pookz – lead vocals
Lux
SP3
Judge
6Six
Blackgold setlist:
‘It’s Art’ (from 2022 ‘EP1’)
‘One Chance’ (from 2024 ‘Back With Another’ EP)
‘Wake Up’
‘Sound Of The Underground’ (from 2022 ‘EP1’)
‘Social Blackout’ (from 2024 ‘Back With Another’ EP)
‘Dance Like That’
‘Today Is My Day’
‘Old School Sound’
‘On Another Level’
‘It’s A Crazy World’
‘I Ain’t Going Out Like That’ (Cypress Hill cover)
‘Boogeyman’
Over the years since 2002, the Concorde 2 has played host to Skindred many times, 10 times by my count if you also count last night’s secret WaterBear fresher’s week gig for students only. Their other most recent visit to Brighton was in 2023 for their tour in support of the ‘Smile’ album which took place at Chalk and also involved an in-store and signing at Resident, but tonight they are back to their spiritual home of the Concorde 2 for a special one off gig that had sold out before the end of May, which goes to show this is a bad that always have an eager crowd waiting to lap it all up.
Whilst I have always been aware of Skindred from afar, I’ve never actually seen them live and the only album I’m ashamed to say I own currently is ‘Smile’ which I picked up at Resident after sadly missing their in-store. However I can say I did see vocalist and frontman Benji Webbe in his previous and other band Dubwar back in 1995 at Reading Festival, so like I say the awareness is there, I’ve just not been properly schooled in the way.
At 9:12pm the lights went fully out on stage, and AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ was played with white strobe type lighting and beams shining around, this built up for the full 3 and half minutes, before the band came on stage one by one at 9:15pm to a souped up beaty version of ‘Darth Vader’s Theme’ from ‘Star Wars’. I noticed the band were only 3 in number tonight, Benji Webbe on lead vocals, synthesizers, wearing a long black leather looking trench coat, wrap around black shades adorned with silver spikes and his famous dreadlocks tied up. Mikey Demus is on guitars and backing vocals, dressed in a black suit, black Trilby hat and black shades, cutting quite the look with his ZZ Top style long beard, and finally Arya Goggin on drums, his drums were adorned with flowers and a picture of Roger Moore over his bass drum. Normally the band have a bass player who could not be with them this evening.
The first song was ‘Set Fazers’, a song from their most recent album. What a way to start the set, boy was this loud, full of energy as Benji wrapped a black and white union flag around him as he stood centre front stage often on a small platform to raise him up. “Is everyone okay out there, it’s good to be back in Brighton” we were asked before some back and forth singing practice ready for ‘Rat Race’ one in which Benji got various sections of the crowd to sing. Everyone was encouraged to cheer more and more at what I thought was the end of the song, before Benji got everyone starting to sing ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, before jokingly telling us to “shut the f*ck up” before roaring back into ‘Rat Race’. Benji’s vocal range is phenomenal, his Welsh accent carrying through, can be deep and powerful much like they were for the starting lyrics of ‘Pressure’.
“Dan where are you, where’s the bass player?” came shouts from the crowd, to which Benji replied “Dan’s not here” (referencing their bass player Daniel Pugsley), “I’ll text him”, whether he did or not I’m not sure, but it was a perfect segway for the next song’s intro as he picked up his phone and turned on the light and quietly began to sing “Flash your lights and watch the world burn”, to which everyone held up their mobile phones with their lights on. This one is called ‘The Worlds On Fire’; it was a heavier song and saw the mosh pit once more go into a frenzy, the crowd sure did bounce.
Continuing the crowd participation, the left side of the crowd were asked to give a “Whoop Whoop”, the right side were given the task to sing the name of the next song ‘That’s My Jam’ which opened with a quality guitar riff from Mikey Demus who continued all evening to switch from left to right hand sides of the stage to ensure the both sides of the crowd were equally getting to feel the fire of his guitar.
We were then given a bit of a DJ mix set starting with a reggae interlude, with Benji asking us if we like some reggae, before abruptly saying “what about heavy metal”, moving into Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ and then the House Of Pains ‘Jump Around’. It was fun and good to have a bit of a breather before the next round jumping and moshing began. However moshing was not quite on the cards yet as we’re given an introduction to a heavily reggae uplifting vibe with ‘L.O.V.E (Smile Please)’, which had everyone waving their hands in the air with fingers all in the peace sign. Continuing songs from their most recent album ‘Smile’, which is their highest charting album so far having reached No.2, we were treated to ‘If I Could’, Benji said it is one of their most requested songs, it certainly is a banger of a tune, but not half has heavy as others in their catalogue we’d had so far.
A DJ beat kicked in whilst Benji fired up the crowd with a chant of “are you having a good time” before stopping and asking us all to think of someone that tries to bring us down, to think of them and clench our fists in the air for ‘Kill The Power’. Another song whilst full on with power and energy, it had the whole crowd in unison singing, quite a moving song. The Prodigy’s ‘Out Of Space’ was played and everyone was ordered to sing it, to which the loyal Skindred Army did, before the lights darkened and the guitar raged once more for the continuation of ‘Kill The Power’, possibly this one was the highlight of the set for me.
There was a slight musical interlude whilst Benji changed into a white Unity Jacket with white sunglasses, he told us “This music we make is to bring people together, no matter your culture or religion, this music is for people to live as one” the song was ‘Nobody’ and true to his words everyone was at a one.
A countdown followed this, taking us in to the big song from ‘Smile’, it was ‘Gimme That Boom’, and boom it does, pumping bass line, mad drums, that luscious guitar riff, Benji belting out the lyrics “boom, boom, boom” a real mega song to end the set with (supposedly). Was it really the end, we were bang on the hour mark as the band left the stage, surely there will be one, after two minutes Ozzy Osbourne was played and we were all told to get down to the floor as $pookz from Blackgold was brought on stage for what really was the final song ‘Warning’ a fine and frantic number from what was a full on 110% set. Benji had everyone getting shirts off to do the Newport Helicopter in the air, awesome visually to see and quite a relief as all the air movement acted like a fan of cool air in the pretty intense crowd heat. Sadly with that at an hour and ten minutes of solid music, Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does It Better’, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ theme tune played out and it was all over.
Skindred are brilliant at many things, but you have to give full marks for the energy and showmanship from Benji, always quipping and joking with the crowd, Nu-metal can sometimes feel like a chore to relentlessly listen to, but the constant changes in tempo and style employed by the band, make a hearing a Skindred set a bliss listen, there is no danger whatsoever of them losing the crowd. I must admit I was not really a nu-metal type of guy before tonight, but I do think I may have been converted, everyone else in that crowd fully knew all the words to the songs and clearly had a loyal following. It was a true delight to see so much movement, jumping around, moshing, hands in the air, the give and take, which was the case with both bands. I can see just why Skindred are a festival favourite and sell out tours so fast, their last album hit number two, fingers crossed their next one hits number one, they truly deserve it.
If you want to feel the vibe yourself, you can catch them on 25th October at the Assembly Hall, Worthing (Tickets HERE) as part of their pretty much sold out 13 date UK tour in late October and November before an 8 date tour in Germany.
Skindred:
Benji Webbe – lead vocals synthesizers
Mikey Demus – guitars, backing vocals
Arya Goggin – drums
Skindred setlist:
‘Set Fazers’ (from 2024 ‘Smile’ album)
‘Rat Race’ (from 2007 ‘Roots Rock Riot’ album)
‘Pressure’ (from 2002 ‘Babylon’ album)
‘Worlds On Fire’ (from 2014 ‘Kill The Power’ album)
‘That’s My Jam’ (from 2018 ‘Big Tings’ album)
‘Radio 01633’/’Jump’/’Jump Around’ (covers Van Halen, House Of Pain)
‘L.O.V.E. (Smile Please)’ (from 2024 ‘Smile’ album)
‘If I Could’ (from 2024 ‘Smile’ album)
‘Kill The Power’ (from 2014 ‘Kill The Power’ album)
‘Nobody’ (from 2002 ‘Babylon’ album)
‘Gimme That Boom’ (Sabbath Get Down) (from 2024 ‘Smile’ album)
(encore)
‘Warning’ (‘Nobody Does It Better’) (from 2011 ‘Union Black’ album)
