Hothouse Flowers had the honour of opening CardiffÔÇÖs new Tramshed earlier in the week, but Skindred have just as enviable a date to play at the venue: Halloween. Ticket holders in costumes ranging from Captain Jack Sparrow to Wayne & Garth pack the venue the day after the release of SkindredÔÇÖs sixth album ÔÇÿVolumeÔÇÖ.

Kicking off ÔÇÿNight of the Living DredÔÇÖ are support bands The Dirty Youth and Qemists, neither of whom needed the encouraging words of Skindred frontman Benji Webbe ÔÇ£support bands are the headliners of the futureÔÇØ to get the crowd on their side.

Even after a busy day of signing copies of their new album in Newport and at CardiffÔÇÖs HMV, Skindred are up for anything but a quiet one tonight. ThereÔÇÖs often a big difference between a simply responsive crowd and a genuinely thrilled crowd, and as soon as SkindredÔÇÖs Imperial March intro tape starts things off, Tramshed is hosting a crowd that falls into the later.

New album opener ÔÇÿUnder AttackÔÇÖ leads an hour and a half of a brand of their highly unique sound; Look on the Wikipedia category ÔÇÿreggae metal bandsÔÇÖ and thereÔÇÖs only three other bands mentioned, one of which is Dub War, also featuring Benji Webbe. A tighter functioning unit of a band it is rare to find, but the star as usual is Benji, a man who provides a sense of humour to even serious messages ÔÇ£If you donÔÇÖt like gay peopleÔǪ youÔÇÖre in the wrong fucking place!ÔÇØ. DJ Dan SturgessÔÇÖ role is getting more and more important, and Arya GogginÔÇÖs drums hit hard, the Tramshed already proving to be one of CardiffÔÇÖs best and, in this case, loudest venues sonically.

The closing standard ÔÇÿWarningÔÇÖ gets everyone swinging an item of clothing in the air to ÔÇÿthe Newport helicopterÔÇÖ, after which itÔÇÖs evident that tonight has been a highly successful show. The Tramshed is a great venue and Skindred are a great live band. Only difference is SkindredÔÇÖs live reputation hardly needed proving.

ALEC EVANS