Lostprophets supported by Skindred and Kilkus
Saturday 16th of June 2001, Bedford Esquires.

I had sen Kilkus before in London, so I knew they weren't going to disappoint. But I wasn't so sure about the crowd... Opening Band Syndrome meant that most of the audience just stood there and stared, while the band played their ultra-energetic brand of nu-metal. A small moshpit began once the band urged everyone to join in, and was extremely amusing in the way they almost failed to catch the stagediving guitarist. As for the music - very heavy nu-metal with a good metal guitar sound and slightly substandard rap-metal vocals, as well as some singing. They are refreshing in the way that they do not have pop-songs though, replacing them with a set of moshpit anthems.

Skindred were of a far more original mould than the other bands playing tonight. Formed from the ashes of Dub War, Skindred play an invigorating mixture of ragga and quirky metal, driven by the excellent vocals of dreadlocked frontman Benji. This time the crowd did "get it" in the end and reacted accordingly, although when they started playing everyone had looked bewildered. It seems that at these nu-metal nights people only mosh when asked to by bands, or if they are seeing something totally fromulaic and easy to digest...and so, onto the headliners...

The number of screaming teenage girls that rushed to the front as soon as the 'Prophets came on said a lot about the nature of the band, who looked like a nu-metal version of the Backstreet Boys, much like Linkin Park. They are quite talented, with a vocalist that sounds like Mike Patton (ex-Faith No More) in his more melodic moments, and with songs that were not as predictable as the usual nu-metal fare. However, they are so extremely and turgidly commercial that I found it difficult to like them, and couldn't really get into them, let alone mosh. Coming on after Skindred is disastrous for a band like them, as the true passion and originality of that band blew Lostprophets away.

One good development in the UK nu-metal scene howver, is the improving live shows of those bands. New guitar hero poses are invented, the bands move a lot on stage, and basically have begun to take advantage of the fact that their music is easy to play at the same time as jumping around. Both Kilkus and Lostprophets benefitted from this live energy immensely, injecting some true passion into their performance, while Skindred just used good stage presence and audience interaction for a good gig. Even though the running order would have been better if shuffled, the gig was one of the best at esquires in recent times, with three quality bands putting on a great show.

Peter Burov