Skyclad could not have ever forgotten their first ever show in Greece back in 1999 and the popularity they enjoyed amongst their Greek fans. Memories from that show seemed to be haunting them ever since, so they decided to refresh their memories by paying us a visit at the An Club, in Athens, on Saturday the 28th of January 2006.
That was a fine chance for the band to perform material from their A Semblance of Normality (2004) album plus of course tracks and historic moments from their glorious past. As it is extremely well known, former singer Martin Walkyier departed from the band in January 2001 due to continuing personal financial difficulties soon to be replaced by Skyclad's producer Kevin Ridley.

So with Kevin newly promoted to frontman the band embarked on a bright new future - mostly focusing on the folk elements of its music rather than the Metal ones - as everybody noticed that night at the An Club.
Skyclad's line up was Kevin Ridley on vocals, guitar and acoustic guitar, Steve Ramsey on lead guitar, acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Graeme English on bass guitar, Georgina Biddle on fiddle, keyboard and piano plus Arron Walton handling the drums.

So everybody that night was really anxious to listen to a Martyn Walkyier-less Skyclad! The show was opened by X-Piral as the opening support act for that venue which for reasons not explained here I didn't manage to see. Soon after X-Piral the torch was handed over to Skyclad to unleash their folk attack.

Skyclad, having a new boy (Arron Walton) on the drums under their belts, performed the majority of their setlist in an Irish Pub style. The current attitude of Skyclad has huge differences from the past - as it is obvious - due to its current synthesis and as it was pinpointed before their weight is mostly on the folk - traditional elements rather than the evil Heavy Metal ones. The crowd went totally nuts at songs such as , Land of the Rising Slum, Wickedest Man In The World or especially Widershin Jig.

All the band members were hungry, enjoying themselves and ourselves for the Folk night they were offering us with Celtic wisdom. There were many moments where their show sounded more like an acoustic rather than an electric one. The crowd was really warm and would scream from time to time but maybe if they had played more classic songs from albums such as Prince Of The Poverty Line the fans would have gone totally nuts. Georgina and Mr. Ramsey were really the center of the whole show and led the entire crowd into a fine situation and Rock 'n' Roll attitude. There were many songs from the latest albums but that did not really matter for the attendants who definitely enjoyed the evening for sure.

Long time producer Kevin Ridley does a fine job handling the vocals and fronting the band accompanied by legendary Mr. Skyclad Steve Ramsey (ex-Satan / Pariah) and seems to have given Skyclad the kiss of life the band needed in order to carry on! If the band keeps on with a harder-edged guitar sound and some Guinness then the future of Skyclad seems quite bright - especially in the cult Metal circle.

To sum it up, one of the originators of Folk Metal is still alive and well - even though less metallic in my opinion - and still has the ability to entertain its fans. That evening was a fine chance to hear a lot of Skyclad favorites re-worked with Kevin on vocals and also those who are loyal to their classic Metal repertoire would definitely have had a fine moment together with the British Folk Metal legends.

In the meantime Skyclad are currently working on their new album which is to be recorded over the summer and released before the end of the year.

So until next time... Up the Skyclads and of course drinking and thinking is allowed!