Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are moments you feel for a band, when the Gods distract the flow and even the tiniest interruption could make or break the moment of absolute clarity. Bands of immense stature have suffered it and some have even folded under the pressure on the day, the music never really capturing the intensity that came before it. Yet in amongst the darkness of perhaps seen negativity an illumination can appear and what follows is just as hard core, just as enjoyable to watch as before the mishap on stage occurs.

For Skylights not even a snapped string could falter the express train that roared through the Zanzibar Club as if being driven by the Devil himself. Rhythmically pulsating, musically entrancing and with a core sound that beats wilder than a lion armed with a rifle and casually taking out dentists and trophy hunters for fun.

For the indie Rock band members, John Riley, Danny Doyle, Sean Foy, Lachlan Challoner and Sonny Price, not even an irritation could get in the way of what was a very cool set. This included original songs such as the tremendous Electric Girl and The City being played out against a rambunctious version of Green Days’ American Idiot what was flowing on stage, the exciting energy that was being cast out to a set of young music fans, was fast seen as asset to the city’s new wave rock scene.

It was the boundless energy though that impressed greatly, the electricity of the hitherto unheard and the crunching beat that found itself kick starting any old heart that found the working week to much of a bind and reminding the engine that there was still much more music to be heard in the world, fresh and exciting music, and that by not listening to what the young have to say only meant alienating yourself from a bright future.

Skylights have a cause, they have time and more importantly they have spirit, it is a spirit that soared and bounced with enthusiasm and creative cool.

Ian D. Hall