Originally posted in Valkyrian Music.

I had seen UGLY KID JOE in 1995, when they opened for VAN HALEN and BON JOVI, but SKID ROW was a first. And since they were one of the first bands to hit the favourite list when I was a kid, it was literally a dream come true. Yes, of course that back then Sebastian Bach was the singer and that when he left I felt it wasn’t the same anymore. But that was 17 years ago, I had plenty of time to grow up and overcome it. Johnny Solinger is an awesome singer and I’m more than grateful for the emotion with which he brought all those songs to life.

“Let’s Go”, from their recent EP “United World Rebellion: Chapter One”, was the opening song and so we went. Oh how we went! “Thick Is The Skin” and “Kings Of Demolition” showed us how their 21^st century stuff is just as great, but the classics have a whole baggage that entitles them a much warmer response from the crowd. Like the rumble we produced when the first chords of “18 And Life” echoed, for instance.

Johnny left the stage when Rachel Bolan got hold of the mike to sing RAMONE’s  “Psycho Therapy”, and when he came back he had his cellphone in his hand saying something like “when this band started cellphones didn’t exist yet. It was still disk and handle. And now here I am tweeting about how much fun we’re having here in London. ‘Cause we want to remember you”. Yes, “I Remember You” came next.

“Quicksand Jesus” opened the encore, and after “Slave To The Grind” Dave Sabo  thanked London once again and said how happy and proud he was that 24 years later, we still sang along to every word. “And no matter how old we are we will always be the  YOUTH GONE WILD” – three little words that everyone screamed at the top of their lungs at the same time the guitarist said them. Epic!

www.skidrow.com