The Skids w/ The Au Pairs @ Beckett SU, Leeds, - 27/03/26

The Skids @ Beckett SU, Leeds - 27/03/26

The Skids and The Au Pairs turn Leeds into a roaring time machine of punk defiance. Veteran firebrands prove their songs still cut deep, sound huge, and demand to be sung like they mean it.

Words - Michael Oglesby // Photos - John Hayhurst

Leeds Beckett University’s stage hosted The Skids last Friday night and it was an explosive set belying the age of frontman Richard Jobson. Delivered with sweat, bite, a grimace and crazy dance from Jobson that never quite stopped.

But first, after nearly four decades on from their Birmingham origins, The Au Pairs stormed back with all the urgency the moment demands. Lesley Woods and her new line-up wasted no time, opening with "Come Again" and immediately making clear that this was no nostalgic victory lap. The set tore through the classics  "Armagh," "Dear John," "It's Obvious"  each one still bristling with the sarcastic fury and dissonant, angular energy that made ‘Playing with a Different Sex’ a post-punk landmark. If anything, the songs felt more relevant than ever.

The real talking point was "In the Wrong Body" it landed well with this Leeds crowd in a way that suggested the Au Pairs' politics are still razor sharp. Woods might look a bit like a punk Dot Cotton, and she recalled a story of the first time she played Leeds where she discovered 'chips with curry sauce', but overall she remains a ferocious presence, and with fresh blood in the band, this Au Pairs reformation is a long overdue reckoning. 

The venue is buzzing with a mix of generations: original fans reliving formative years and younger converts drawn to the band’s enduring legacy that the likes of Green Day and U2 have covered. When the lights dropped, that anticipation created a surge of energy that barely let up all night.

Opening with “Happy To Be With You,” the band wasted no time locking into a fierce, full-bodied groove. Jobson — part frontman, part ringmaster — danced around the stage with restless energy, throwing shapes, pointing to the crowd, and urging them forward. Behind him, the band were razor-sharp: Nick Hernandez’s drumming was punchy and relentless, Connor Whyte’s guitar roared with a thick, cutting tone, and Peter Byrchmore anchored everything with muscular basslines.

“Out Of Town” followed early, its driving rhythm sparking a first proper eruption. The riff hit like a starter pistol, the crowd — fists up, voices louder. It was one of several moments where the past felt vividly present.

There’s a raw physicality to a Skids show that hasn’t dulled. Tracks like “The Saints Are Coming” and “Masquerade” arrived with a sense of ceremony before exploding — the quiet tension giving way to crashing drums and searing guitar. Jobson always a physical presence, put his heart and soul into every word, stretching lines, repeating refrains at the end, until the entire room became part of the performance.

Between songs, he balanced humour and reflection — self-deprecating one minute, fiercely principled the next — always acknowledging the legacy of Stuart Adamson without letting the show drift into sentimentality, and Connor Whyte was more than a match on guitar, nailing every crucial Adamson riff.

The mid-set run was relentless: “Circus Games,” “Hurry On Boys,” and “A Woman In Winter” turned the venue into a communal chant-along. Each chorus felt bigger than the last, the audience more invested, more vocal. There’s something uniquely unifying about these songs — they demand participation.

A chaotic, tongue-in-cheek “TV Stars” injected a dose of scrappy humour, with Jobson playfully dismissing it even as the crowd gleefully sang every word back at him. Later, the classic “Into The Valley” arrived, the opening rumble alone from Byrchmore’s Rickenbacker bass, was enough to send a ripple through the room, bodies pressing forward as if pulled by instinct. It’s the band’s defining anthem for a reason — and here, it felt as powerful and necessary as ever. Immediately it spawns 100 dad dancers doing the crazy kick moves that Jobson has made into an art form since first doing it on Top of the Pops decades ago.

Closing the main set with “Working For The Yankee Dollar” and “Charles,” The Skids ended with their sharper political edge, the themes still landing with uncomfortable relevance. Jobson delivered them with conviction, never preachy, but impossible to ignore.

This was a band still vital, still loud, and still with something to say.