Review and Pictures: Louise Phillips / (C) Louise Phillips Photography
Skunk Anansie are undeniably the hottest and most formidable band on the UK music scene right now, and tonight on the final night of their mind-blowing and phenomenally successful tour they were like an apocalyptic detonation of sheer and unadulterated euphoric thrilling magnificence! if you could bottle sheer joy, blend it with a hefty dose of anarchic rebellion and musical perfection, and an explosive almost superhuman energy, then you’re part way there to summing up the gig tonight! And whilst Skunk Anansie are a band well known for their explosive shows, this was no ordinary Skunk Anansie gig, this was the final night of the UK tour and they were all in, giving every last drop of sweat, blood and tears to their beloved fans. And that’s no understatement, this is a band who love their fans and the feeling is mutual, their fans are evangelical about their idols. They are the Skunk Army and there’s no them and us, because at a Skunk gig we’re all in this together, we’re one big family!
From the very first track of the night, the phenomenal ‘This Means War’ they were on fire, if the fire was a towering inferno that is!! Coming in hard and heavy with blinding white lights and a ferocity that blew the minds of their devoted fans to pieces in a ‘one flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ kind of way! So, brains melted. Without delay, the Skunks were onto their next track, the earth shattering ‘Charlie Big Potato‘! The fans were bouncing off the walls, the floor was vibrating like there was some kind of earthquake going on and the audience was a mass of frantic dancing happy bodies all living their best life!!
It’s hard to believe that it’s more than 30 years since Skunk Anansie first burst onto the UK music scene with their dynamic debut album ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt‘. Fearlessly political and unapologetic, from the get go, they were and still are a true original, a band who less walk their own path, more tear it to pieces, then take a flame thrower to the remnants! They seemingly overnight became the voice of a disenfranchised generation, the rebel yell with a conscience. And they’ve never stopped telling it like it is, keeping it real as the kids would say!
Support was from hip-hop, drill, punk fusion band ‘So Good’. Their chaotic anarchic performance was full of middle finger salutes, riotous and controversial lyrics and energetic hip-hop moves! Main vocalist Sophie looked like she was straight out of High School Musical, but looks are deceiving and with her acid tongue, snarl and middle finger raised to the heavens, she was like Barbie with a machine gun (if Barbie had balls the size of Brazil and a flame thrower in her college bag).
Sophie and the rest of her brat-pop hip-hop drill nonconformists had an energy and dynamic which made for an explosive performance! It’s no wonder that Skunk Anansie snapped them up! But whilst their set was fabulous in its own right, the best part had to be when Skin and half of the rest of Skunk Anansie came onto stage and danced and sang with their prodigies, much to the thrill of the crowd!!
The stage was simply stunning, dark, foreboding and reminiscent of the cover of their ‘Black Traffic‘ album, black spikes surrounded Mark’s drum kit and the whole set wouldn’t have looked out of place on the set of Hellraiser! Skin commanded the stage like the goddess of war, with a captivating otherworldly presence and a boundless energy. The power in her voice could only be described as absolutely electrifying! But whilst Skin is undoubtedly the figurehead of this incredible band, what takes this band to a whole new level is undeniably the dynamic between them! They take tight to a whole new level and obviously adore each other. They clearly love to play together, and despite the wow rock star factor that oozes from every pore, there is a genuine warmth between them, an approachability that tells you that are lovely people through and through! The sort of people you could have a beer with!
There were so many pinch-yourself moments that you could make a Netflix series about them, but here are a few of the very best!
The stage invasion! Yes, you read that right, at the end of the night, So Good, complete with their balaclava clad band took to the stage and danced like their lives depended on it with Skin and the boys, and far from being the aloof rock star, Skin welcomed them with open arms, urging the fans to buy their merch, making the Skunk family more lovable than ever, If that was even possible!!
The new material!! You know the story, a fantastic band have been around for a long time and to keep the record company happy and the pennies coming in, they need to put out some new material. Usually, said material is either A. sounds like a watered down slightly lack lustre version of the old stuff or B. is so out there, that it leaves the fans wondering what the hell is going on! Well, not when it’s Skunk Anansie it doesn’t! Their new material, especially the blinding track ‘Cheers‘ which was kick-arse and catchy as hell and could only be described as bloody brilliant!! And their new single ‘Lost and Found‘, which is unsurprisingly their stonking new single of choice with its driving guitar and Skins mesmerising vocals. It was pure perfection and every bit as fabulous as their classic tracks ‘Weak‘ and ‘Secretly‘. No wonder it left their fans bouncing off the walls!
Then there was the moment where during, ‘I Can Dream‘, Skin strode into the crowd much to their utter joy, before urging them to jump, jump, jump and jump they did! Skin is fearless to her core, proving that she is still a dangerous and divine maverick of the highest order!
Before detonating the incredible, ‘An Artist is an Artist‘, Skin declared to the audience, “We have nothing left to give” before swigging champagne from her monogramed glass (courtesy of ‘So Good’). She then stormed into the audience for ‘Tear the Place Up‘ an exquisite moment of joyous rebellion that was swiftly followed by the spine-tinglingly beautiful and heart-wrenching ‘Hedonism‘ during which the audience sung so loudly that you could hardly hear the band. It was an unforgettable moment that will stay with me forever!
The rage fuelled ferocious ‘Little Baby Swastikkka‘, was as always incendiary and utter perfection. A stunning close to the set before the breathtaking and thrilling encore that opened with ‘Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)‘, which was so drenched in emotion, it would have melted the coldest of hearts!
And in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the night was over and as the fans left the auditorium exhilarated, emotional and definitely on their happy cloud, there was one thing for sure, Skunk Anansie are back (not that they’ve ever really been away) and this time they are hotter, more dangerous and electrifying than ever!!
Setlist:
This Means War
Charlie Big Potato
Because of You
An Artist is an Artist
I Believed in You
Love Someone Else
God Loves Only You
Secretly
Weak
I Can Dream
Twisted (Everyday Hurts)
My Ugly Boy
Animal
Yes, It’s Fucking Political
Tear the Place Up
Little Baby Swastikkka
Encore:
Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)
Cheers
The Skank Heads
Lost and Found
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