Gig Review: Skinner Brothers, live at Oslo Hackney

London, November 28th, 2025.

With the Skinner Brother's whirlwind 2025 UK tour coming to an end, emotions are running high– not just for those who were fortunate enough to attend a show, but also for those who were unable to witness the madness firsthand and had to live vicariously through others. That was me last year, not long after discovering the band via a recommendation from Ren, and I immediately got sucked into the beautifully tumultuous world of the Skinner Brothers.

For those that don't know me, I am from the Boston area of the United States. Like many American fans, I watched last year's tour slip by with a bittersweet mix of awe and envy in equal measure. If I'm being honest, I never thought I would be able to see the Skinner Brothers perform live, unless it was in my own country. I had a year to sit with that FOMO (fear of missing out), and I wish I could say that my sheer determination is what led me to trek halfway around the world alone to see them on tour this year, but I would be lying.

The flights were actually significantly cheaper than I was expecting, and I don't know what possessed me, but I purchased the flights and a ticket to the show right on the spot with no further plan of how I would be getting there. And it's a good thing that I did, because the entire tour sold out pretty quickly after that, and London was one of the first venues to go.

I'll spare you the details of my journey—if you are a member of the Skinner Brothers Family Facebook group, you've already heard all about it anyway. To sum it up, I managed to leave my house, fly 6500 miles to London and back alone, see the show, and then return home in exactly 52 hours. I didn't even take any time off of work. I've never traveled anywhere alone before, but if I have to die anyway it might as well be doing something that I love, am I right?!

The show was held in East London at Oslo Hackney, a former railway station that has since been converted into a bar and popular music venue, with a capacity of almost 400 people. The venue itself was warm and inviting, with a well-lit bar (complete with fold-out stools), ample seating, and at the time, a large Christmas tree right in the heart of the common area. The staff were friendly and had a good sense of humor, especially when my "American" was showing and I tried to order a Screwdriver at the bar. The conversation went something like this:

Bartender: What's that?
Me: Vodka and orange juice.
Bartender: We don't have orange juice.
Me: Vodka and cranberry?
Bartender: We don't have cranberry juice.
Me: Vodka and whatever else you'd like to put in that glass, then. Surprise me!

With the Skinner Brothers being large fans of the “full immersive experience,” it is not uncommon to be greeted throughout the venue by masked members of the Goon Squad (often including Zac himself), and his superhuman wife Claira running the merch desk. With the guys in full gear, they all appear to be carbon copies of the same spooky henchman (or perhaps some kind of musical executioners), but they are all very friendly and accommodating. If you look closely with a trained eye, sometimes you can even tell them apart– you just have to pay attention to the details, like Noir X's black nail polish, or Zac's instantly identifiable strut when he crosses the room.

Having hosted several heavy hitters in the past, including Måneskin and Sam Smith, the Skinner Brothers would have some big shoes to fill within the walls of Oslo, but fortunately they would not have to do it alone. With them on tour (all the way from Japan!) was SAHAJi, and American-based band Love Ghost, who were making their UK debut all the way from Los Angeles, California.

With their debut album Don't Touch My Soul being released the same day, SAHAJi were the first to take the stage. Their sound is powerful and engaging, with screaming guitars and a bassist that put her whole heart into the show. I wish I had gotten better pictures of her, but I was too far away, and they all came out blurry. The brothers, Shotaro and Youshirou brought their A-game as well, playing all the fan favorites from Future in the Sky to my personal favorite, Thousand Times.

Thousand Times may be one of their newer songs, but Shotaro's vocals are exceptional in it, proving that SAHAJi are honing in on their style and will only get better as time goes on. Their set ended with Shotaro slinging his guitar behind his neck and playing the last few chords in true rockstar fashion—all that was missing was the confetti falling from the rafters. You better believe I picked up a copy of Don't Touch My Soul before the night was over, and it was the first thing I listened to when I got home!

Love Ghost started out strong with the entire band lined up on stage, marching and saluting to their introductory song, Star of the Show. The initial feeling when they came on stage was like entering some kind of seductive dark carnival—all the fun of the big top without treading so far you find yourself drinking Faygo in your mom's basement and listening to ICP. They had posted their set lists on social media prior to the tour, but were very clever in keeping three separate ones to maintain an element of surprise while still giving people an idea of what to expect.

Truthfully, it didn't matter which one they chose, because much like the Skinner Brothers, Love Ghost has exceptional range and is able to transition from one genre (or language!) to the next flawlessly. I was beyond excited to finally hear them play Fade Away live, and was pleasantly surprised by another song that I hadn't heard before—it was really heavy with a lot of screaming, and by the end of it I was wondering how Finn's vocal chords had not been reduced to a pile of ash. Needless to say, I will have to listen to all three playlists now to try and figure out which song that was, because I need to add it to my library immediately.

Love Ghost was set to return to the stage during the Skinner Brother's set and perform their part of Freedom in a Padded Cell, but something came up at the London show and that didn't end up happening. The Skinner Brothers were able to roll with the punches, and when Love Ghost did eventually return to the stage, everyone had a laugh when Finn said he had been busy pooping. You can't make this up, and that is precisely why we love them! Life happens to everyone (I've been informed that everyone poops?)—it's how you handle it that matters. And both Love Ghost and the Skinner Brothers did an exemplary job of that– there was certainly no love lost by the fans, that's for sure!

Things became much cozier as the crowd packed in tightly right before the Skinner Brothers took the stage. What little space there had previously been between people was now filled with bucket hats and fans of all ages, and suddenly you understood what a sold-out show in London truly feels like. The masked members of the band took to the stage in low lighting and began playing the first (slightly ominous) chords of Sleep When I'm Dead, building the tension until frontman Zac Skinner appeared from the darkness behind them.

Saying that the crowd went wild would be a massive understatement—the people had already been primed for debauchery by the two opening acts, but the Skinner Brother's entrance had them whipped into a type of frenzy that I haven't witnessed myself since the Fontaines DC's Romance tour. I can't speak for anyone else there, but I know that I “woo”ed until my wooer stopped working (which is probably why I hate going through my own concert videos...)

The Skinner Brothers played many fan favorites across their extensive catalog as well, including Stupid Much, Iconic, and even some of the more recent tracks from the Sick Sick Soul EP, like Ctrl Alt Delete. Zac has expressed his concern on several occasions about minor issues that come up on tours, such as equipment failure or occasionally forgetting the lyrics on stage, but that couldn't possibly have been less of a concern during this show. The crowd singing back more than made up for any gaps in the lyrics, but there wasn't much the crowd could do to help him line up the plug for his acoustic guitar—I'm afraid he was left to his own devices for that, but the drum roll the band gave him while he tried was a nice touch.

There's something rather transformative about playing in front of a live audience, and that was crystal clear as soon as the Skinner Brothers began their set. Each member of the band is a master of owning the stage in their own right, but Zac's stage presence and confidence really kept the crowd engaged and teetering on the edge of madness. You have to be engaged! If you look away for one moment you will be showered by mystery liquids falling from the sky and be left praying that they came from a bottle. I thought about that right after something landed on my hand while I was recording, and I instinctively licked it off believing it was water.

There is one undeniable fact about attending any Skinner Brothers show: they go hard, and they will leave it all on the stage. From the moment their set begins until the glorious stage dive at the end, Zac doesn't just play music, he becomes music, and the Skinner Brothers will always leave you wired for sound and wanting more.

I was fortunate in meeting Zac, Claira, and several other band affiliates after the show, and Zac was kind enough to sign my arm for a tattoo that I had planned to get done after. Obviously I didn't plan it very well, because that meant I couldn't shower when I got back to the hotel, and I was going to have to leave London before the tattoo shops were open the next day. This put me on a seven hour flight home smelling like sweat, stale beer, and poor life choices while cradling my arm as if it were broken to prevent it from rubbing off on anything. But it was absolutely worth it in the end, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

I guess the entire experience can be summed up neatly by the conversation I had with the USA Customs officer on my way back home. They have to ask a lot of questions to try and catch you in a lie and make sure you're not up to anything suspicious when you enter the country. Our exchange went something like this:

Customs: Where are you coming from?
Me: London.
Customs: How long were you there?
Me: Overnight.
Customs: What was the reason for your trip?
Me: To see a concert.
Customs: You went all the way to London just for a concert? Who did you see?
Me: The Skinner Brothers.
Customs: Never heard of them.
Me: You will.

☘️🖤