My Skin journey started in 1995 when I first saw them supporting Thunder and then a couple of headline shows shortly after that. I was hooked on their music. I was gutted when they called it a day in 1998 but managed to catch them again many years later in 2012 when they supported Little Angels, so a chance to hear some Skin music again was not to missed.
Founder member Myke Gray had put a band together to play his/Skin’s music and I was not going to miss out. Three dates and a headline spot at the Stonedead Festival had been scheduled. I managed to catch the first show at the excellent Waterloo Bar in Blackpool, a favourite venue of mine. Gray had put together a stellar band for this short tour; We had the amazing Dan Byrne on vocals – what a talent and lovely guy he is. In fact only the week before, I saw him fronting the amazing Atack. Dan can do anything you ask of him. On bass we had the awesome Colin Parkinson, drums the incredible Neil Ogden and second guitar we had the talented Glenn Quinn. This band is a powerhouse delivering the music of Skin with Myke Gray at the helm.
What a night it was indeed, if you follow Myke Gray on social media then you will know he has been going through a tough few months. Well, tonight from the first song ‘Money’ to the final one ‘Perfect Day/Unbelievable’ Myke smiled constantly throughout the night and as he said himself he hasn’t smiled for nearly three months now. Music is indeed the tonic we all need and tonight Myke and the band made us all feel great and hopefully the audience appreciation helped Myke too. Highlights were many, ‘House of Love’ rocked the roof off the Waterloo Bar, ‘Raised on Radio’ was epic, what a riff and still getting airplay in the UK on Planet Rock.
When they slow it down we got the beautiful ‘Stronger’ and the epic ‘Which are the Tears’, Dan really exceled on this one, singing with pure passion and feeling, he really made it his own. The last six songs of the main set showed the quality of Skin songs, ‘Look but Don’t Touch’, ‘Colourblind’, ‘Take me Down to the River’, ‘Don’t Give up on Life’, which was performed for the first time ever live and what a song it is, ‘Tower of Strength’ and ‘Shine your Light’. When they returned for the encore, Myke thanked everyone who has sent him positive messages recently and then went on to thank his amazing band. The encore was ‘Wings of an Angel’, ‘How Lucky you are’ and ‘Perfect Day/Unbelievable’.
Myke Gray played like a demon tonight, he was clearly having a great time up there, just what he needed I guess. What a show!
Photos by David Pickles
