Photo Credit: Maryleen Guevara (4th April – O2 Apollo, Manchester)
Skunk Anansie are back but did they really ever go away? Ok they may have split in 2001 allowing Skin to focus on the solo career before reforming in 2009 but their music has always been there for generation after generation to connect to, after tonight’s performance we completely understand the pulling power that this band have. They will release seventh studio album The Painful Truth on 23rd May and they would showcase a few of the tracks from that album on this tour alongside the countless back catalogue they have to choose from.
What is going on with the weather in Glasgow right now? That’s been well over a week the sun has been out, almost unheard of! There is a lot of red, white and blue on show in the city tonight but it’s just south of the river Clyde we are interested in as London band So Good provide the support with an eclectic mix of punk, rock and rap to warm the fans up. Pink onesies and shocking pink balaclavas anyone? And that’s just what the three members were wearing! So Good are led by the bubbly Sophie Bokor-Ingram with two backing vocalists/dancers beside her, the performance was perhaps on the overly-raunchy side and expletive ridden but still enjoyable. Latest release I Wrote The Fucking Bible was entertaining with the songs quirky lyrics and energy from the vocalist while If I Had A … was more a version of modern rap music … that soon changes again with 1994 sounding very punk influenced, the set was very lively as Sophie tells the crowd that this is the first time the band are playing in Scotland. As well as supporting Skunk Anansie in 2025 they will also be heading out with Queens of the Stone Age and are well worth catching live. 8/10
The atmosphere is now electric in the O2 Academy, the old building that once hosted a cinema. We began thinking that it is quite unusual for a band to tour before an album is released but delays are very common for releases these days, it just makes us want to listen to The Painful Truth now. The band have already released four tracks from the upcoming album – An Artist Is An Artist, Animal, Cheers and Lost and Found – with all of them sounding great live. Martin ‘Ace’ Kent (guitar), Richard ‘Cass’ Lewis (bass, guitar, keys), Mark Richardson (drums) take to the stage to a loud cheer from the capacity crowd before the enigmatic Skin enters the arena as the excitement reaches fever pitch. What better way to start a set than 2019 release This Means War as the opening lyrics are sang “When I see the animal in you, I’m gonna stand like a motherfucker stone cold dead in your headlights” it is a fitting start what with the ongoing wars across the planet. If that wasn’t an intense enough start then how about Charlie Big Potato, the first of three from the Post Orgasmic Chill album, the intensity of this track is unreal with the lighting working to good effect alongside, for us it is one of the best of the twenty-one track set. Because Of You has the bass hitting the high ceiling of this old building like a punch in the head, the 2,500 fans that have packed into the O2 Academy tonight are enjoying every moment of this so far.
Skin says excitedly that the band have been waiting the whole tour to come and play in Glasgow, also saying how much of a special place it is for them, Scottish music journalist Billy Sloan gets a shoutout later in the set for everything he has done to promote the band over the years. The first of the four new tracks played is An Artist Is An Artist giving the fans a taste of what is to come when The Painful Truth is released next month, look out for an album review on Bring The Noise. “We are all equal” says Skin before God Loves Only You, another contender for one of the best of the set while Secretly is more of a ballad tonight, things soon liven up again with the fantastic Weak, the crowd upstairs are now up on their feet screaming the lyrics back to the stage, this is more like it … Skin is in amongst the crowd for I Can Dream shaking things up a little. It is a great moment from the set but unfortunately we don’t get much of a view of what is going on downstairs due to the amount of phones in the air. Swedish metal band Ghost made the headlines last week with the ban on mobile phones being used during their shows, is this maybe something that can be done more often?
Animal is another of the new songs and also sounds fantastic live while Tear The Place Up has Skin sharing drum duties with Mark Richardson, the energy again reaches fever pitch during Little Baby Swastikkka as the vocalist demands a girls only mosh pit during the third track taken from 1995 debut album Paranoid & Sunburnt. By far the most popular Skunk Anansie song is Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good) and the crowd show their appreciation of the song in a mass singalong during the first of the five-track encore. The band made the bold decision to include two tracks from the upcoming album in the encore with Cheers going down well with the crowd. We then get a partial cover of Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love as Skin introduces the band with each receiving an applause from the crowd. Excitement again rises for The Skank Heads (Get Off Me) the last of the songs from the Post Orgasmic Chill album, this is one of the best of the night. Skin is on the stage alone for the start of Lost And Found before the band join her ending a memorable night of music. As we leave our seats there is an absolute buzz in the air to what we have all just witnessed, the band are still on the stage and Skin is celebrating with a second glass of wine … and why not? The tour will soon be coming to an end but Skunk Anansie are playing loads of festivals over the summer months. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
