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By Mike T West.

It is not hard to see why Skindred are popular with the Germans. However, it is clearly hard for them to understand frontman/legend Benji Webbe’s onstage banter. He is, after all, Welsh.

What language the audience does understand is RIFFS and fortunately Skindred are not only fluent, but have four 1st BAs with Hons. Blasting out the 20th Century Fox theme before the band pound onto the stage with the floor-stomping "Stand For Something", the international relations in Kreuzberg reach boiling point. What normally takes bands half a set to get warmed up, Benji & co do within 30 seconds. It all looks completely effortless which makes it unfathomable why they’re not selling out the O2 Academy Jupiter, but for these 60+ minutes all in attendance couldn’t care less.

Every song played is treated with the same mega grins as the one before and although we’re dragged through some giant leaps in musical style, this eclectic mix of dub, metal, reggae and punk could explain why the band isn’t much more popular. New songs such as "Doom Riff" with its epic chorus and total crushing malovenance sound perfectly normal next to the ragga fun of "Selector". Anyone ever witness a metal band sample Tinie Tempah and proceed to insult a few hundred people's mothers? You’ve clearly never attended a Skindred concert bumbaclart.

Mr. Webbe sums the whole event perfectly, "You know what my mother used to tell me when I was  young: Fuck off!" Shame the audience doesn’t understand.