Sonic Boom Six — 24/10/2009, O2 Academy, Sheffield
24 October 2009
Joe Innes

Sonic Boom Six live at Leeds ’06, thanks to Martyhol
Sonic Boom’s opening acts were the Skints and the Catch-It Kebabs. First up were Yorkshire’s own Catch-It Kebabs. Their charismatic performance of good old-fashioned ska-punk was littered with hints of Sublime, Catch-22 and Streetlight Manifesto. So, they were doing something right! Their (perhaps overly) smiley lead singer’s vocals were powerful, but wide ranging, and suited the music well. Matthew Embree would have been proud. It’s just a shame that at times it felt like there were more people on stage than in the audience. By the time the Skints got on stage, the venue had filled up a bit, and the audience was considerably larger. The Skints were incredible, changing from full-on reggae sound system to respectable ska-punk band at the drop of a hat. Incredibly impressive for a four piece from London. The vocals are mind-blowing, the drummer has one of the weirdest voices I’ve ever heard, and the male lead has the voice of a 50 year old rasta — despite looking whiter than a dove. The female lead has a perfect backing voice, and her rendition of Sister Nancy’s ‘What a Bam Bam’ was thoroughly remarkable. Her mastery of a huge range of instruments also made her stand out as exceptional.
So, Sonic Boom Six. What can I say? It felt like the first time I listened to blink. My first cigarette. My first beer. It was refreshing, revitalising. Watching a group of people so completely in love with their music, so completely in love with the scene, and so desperate to get that message across. The peculiarity of Naila and Barney’s voices, which work so well bouncing off each other, in the flesh was so much more potent than their albums can express. The energy, the volume, the passion in their music really develops live, and there wasn’t a single person in the audience that was able to stand still. It’s disappointing that the vast majority of the people who buy music are Philistines, and would prefer to pay for Sean Kingston than the genuine talent that SB6 are able to demonstrate song after song after song.
I’ve fallen in love with ska-punk all over again.
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