A batch of summer gigs by punk legends The Skids have been put back amid continuing uncertainty over live events.
The veteran Fife outfit have been forced to reschedule their planned acoustic shows at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on July 16 and the Peacock in Sunderland on September 11, with replacement dates now pencilled in for June 24 and 25 next year.
A third date as part of the band’s unplugged Songs and Stories Up Close and Personal venture has also been slated for April 22 at Edinburgh venue La Belle Angele.
The UK Government’s announcement of a delay to its road map out of lockdown strategy also means an expected appearance from Richard Jobson and his cohorts at Wearside scooter shindig Stone Valley Festival North has been postponed until September.
They’ll be joined by the likes of Happy Mondays, The Undertones and The Selecter at the outdoor County Durham bash, which had originally been due to go ahead this weekend.
Electric Skids tours later
Meanwhile, a raft of electric Skids gigs have also had to be pushed back as a result of continuing restrictions, with the five-piece now due to play a curtain-raiser for their UK indoor tour at Stockton-on-Tees on August 28.
The main road trip gets under way with a performance in Manchester on October 8, which is the first in a 12-date itinerary that is scheduled to continue through to November 13.
It includes Scottish appearances at Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on October 22 and the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen the following night. The band has also lined up a big festive gig at the O2 Academy in Glasgow on December 17, which will feature support sets from Big Country — led by Skids guitarist Bruce Watson — and Jobson’s own side project The Armory Show.
Songs From A Haunted Ballroom
The hoped-for live activities for 2021 are being rounded off with a home town show on December 18 at Dunfermline’s Glen Pavilion, a venue where the Into The Valley hit-makers have played a succession of barnstorming concerts since they reformed in 2007 following 25 years in abeyance.
It’s the buzz connected to being able to play live — and hearing spine-tingling songs being blasted out in a favourite venue — that’s the inspiration behind The Skids’ sixth studio album, Songs From A Haunted Ballroom, which was released last month.
The covers set is a flashback to Jobson’s formative years learning the ropes in rock at the long-closed Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, where the teenage band he led with future Big Country founder and guitar genius Stuart Adamson made their live debut in August 1977.
However, frontman Richard bristles at suggestions that the part-spoken word offering tips over into concept album territory. “Every single track we’ve chosen has been inspired by something to do with the Kinema Ballroom, but that’s the worst possible label for it,” he declares.
“Some of the tracks are very obvious. We’ve done Young Savage by Ultravox, Gary Gilmore’s Eyes by The Adverts, Complete Control by The Clash and The Light Pours Out Of Me from Magazine. There are also some odd ones like Garland Jeffreys’ 35 Millimeter Dreams, which is maybe quite obscure for people but lends itself to acoustic interpretation.
“When we headlined the Kinema for the first time our first encore was that song, and of course nobody in the audience had ever heard of it but they were still going mental and still gobbing on me.
Keeping Garland Jeffreys a secret
“Me and Stuart were always fans of Garland Jeffreys. Whenever we were hanging out with The Clash, The Banshees or whoever we were never allowed to admit that, they would go mental if they found out.
“We’ve even done a cover version of our own song The Saints Are Coming because the first time we ever played it was in the Kinema when we supported The Clash there and Richard Hell and The Voidoids. So there’s all these different aspects to it.”
