LIVE: Slaves / The Skints @ Brixton Academy, London

By Adam Rosario

The rise and rise of Slaves is just utterly ridiculous. From opening festivals and consistently playing the Barfly, to headlining huge venues and selling them out, Brixton Academy is Slaves’ playground for the night and they make their performance count.

The Skints have the task of warming up the crowd and do so amicably. Their reggae punk sound goes down well, with ‘This Town’ sounding huge and their customary cover of ‘Katy On A Mission’ bringing the crowd to life.

Whilst The Skints try to blend many styles together, Slaves are a more direct beast. In your face with rough punk, they’re on a mission to prove their status. Isaac has recently dislocated his other shoulder, but the ferocious performance he puts in tells a completely different story. Opening on ‘White Knuckle Ride’ the crowd erupts with constant movement and screamed lyrics.

Early outings for ‘Live Like An Animal’ and ‘Where’s Your Car, Debbie?’ create pure chaos. Laurie’s guitar work is nothing short of frantic, showing off why he’s becoming one of the top guitarist in the world today. A double punch of ‘Cheer Up London’ and ‘Ninety-Nine’ is followed up by a cover of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ which, whilst surprising sounds like a natural Slaves song.

The biggest reaction of the night goes to ‘The Hunter’ which brings the crowd to a climax. ‘Hey!’ closes the main set, and for the first time on this tour, the guys return for an encore & rifle through ‘Feed The Manta Ray’ as well their cover of ‘Shutdown’, originally by Grime MC, Skepta.

A huge ‘Girl Fight’ ends the night in triumphant fashion. For a two piece punk band from Tunbridge Wells who tonight sell out Brixton Academy, and this year alone have had numerous nominations for their debut album ‘Are You Satisfied?’, Slaves should be more than satisfied with their 2015. They’re only going to get bigger.

Photo not taken at this show