Live report SKID ROW & BIRD’S VIEW, Gruenspan, Hamburg – June 19th, 2023

After having released with ‘The Gang’s All Here’, the gang embarked on a tour that brings Skid Row to many countries and continents. Today the hard rock veterans stop at Gruenspan, Hamburg for a show that helps to bridge the gap between some of the bigger festivals in Europe and Skid Row’s support shows for the mighty Kiss. The latter unfortunately couldn’t be in Hamburg tonight, what Rachel Bolan states with a twinkle in the eye.

Coming from the huge Graspop festival in Belgium, the crowd tonight, at Gruenspan, is a bit smaller and it is exactly this club show spirit, that makes tonight to an intensive hard rock delight. Sticky, sweaty and a bit beer-soaked, that is the spirit of a club show and it is what fans get tonight in Hamburg.

Rock fans and metalheads have to make choices tonight. The mighty Ghost plays at the big Barclays Arena, ZZ Top’s mainman Billy Gibbons plays at Grosse Freiheit 36 and a few meters further down the Reeperbahn, Skid Row makes the youth go wild.

Before committed fans can enjoy songs like ’18 and Live’ there is another band that has the role of the opener tonight – Bird’s View. The four guys, all in the early 20s, are fully dedicated to rock’n’roll; hard rocking music with an alternative vibe to it. With one EP in the books and a debut album that has been released a few weeks ago, a show like this is a great opportunity for the guys to present their music to a bigger crowd and they make good use of this momentum.

In 40 minutes the quartet presents their energetic blend of hard rock and alternative rock, mixed with a slight dose of post grunge. Although most of the fans came to see Skid Row, the German youngsters play a very solid show with good songs, a lot of stage acting and enthusiasm. Bird’s View deserve the well-meant applause at the end of their set and everybody at Gruenspan is in the right mood for the headliner.

It was a while ago that I could eye- and ear-witness Skid Row live. It was back in 2019 when the band played at Rock Hard festival in Germany; at the time with ZP Threat on vocals. As we all know, the position at the mic changed in 2022 and since then it is former H.E.A.T. frontman Eric Grönwall, being the perfect singer and frontman of the veteran band.

That Grönwall is an excellent singer is what he has shown already on the latest Skid Row studio album and that he is a great performer too is what he proves tonight. From the first minute of the show to the finale note played tonight, Grönwall is constantly in motion and while the guitarists enjoy their solo parts it is Grönwall, standing next to the drum kit and doing some shadow boxing in line with the rhythm of the song.

The setlist tonight is built on two pillars. There are the first two longplayers that provide the timeless rock anthems and there is the ‘The Gang’s All Here’ material, that showcases the current achievement of the band from New Jersey.

Starting into the set with a song like ‘Slave to the Grind’ means that there is immediately a lot of energy in the room. Especially the front row fans go wild right away. It might be the sweaty temperature at Gruenspan that once in a while slowed things down a bit in the crowd, but Skid Row and Grönwall are experienced enough to bring back enthusiasm within a minute.

In 75 minutes, Skid Row include hits like ’18 and Life’, ‘Monkey Business’ and ‘Riot Act’ in their set and it is amazing to see how the new stuff, like ‘Time Bomb’, fits perfectly into this context.

One of my all-time faves of Skid Row is ‘Quicksand Jesus’ which finds a spot in the middle on the show and that songs from The Ramones are part of a Skid Row show is known too. ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ is the intro, also tonight, and Rachel Bolan takes over the vocal duties for ‘Psycho Therapy’, supported by many of the fans attending tonight.

With ‘Youth Gone Wild’ things come to an end. I guess that everybody had a good time at Gruenspan tonight and embarks in their way home, together with fans from Billy Gibbons, who’s show ended almost at the same time and in the subway the one or the other Ghost fan look pretty happy too. Obviously, a great rock and metal evening in Hamburg with Slipknot lining up for their show the next day, followed by the reunited Pantera. Horns up in Hamburg Rock City.