When a band that you still consider “new” hits its 25th anniversary then you know that old age is creeping up, begging the question “where did all that time go?”.
British Alternate Rockers, Skunk Anansie have just reached that illustrious milestone clocking up 7 Top 20 singles and a clutch of Gold and Platinum albums along the way and arrived in Newcastle for their first show in the City for over 6 years.
Lead singer Skin, is one formidable lady. An absolute firestorm of energy, anger and passion with a voice to match entered the stage for the bombastic, epic opener Charlie Big Potato dressed in what can only be described as Dr Who monster bacon foil suit. Sounds bizarre? Certainly, but pretty effective.
By the second song, Because Of You, with its sky-scraping melody, the suit was off and Skin was unleashed and by the next song she was already in the crowd surfing on a sea of raised arms.
In keeping with their 25th anniversary theme, Skunk Anansie plundered tracks from each of their six studio albums from I Can Dream and the classic Weak from their debut album right through to Love Someone Else from their latest Anarchytecture release and everything else in between. Bringing us bang up to date was the pulsating electro throb of new single What You Do For Love not to mention the brand new and not yet recorded This Means War based around a huge aggressive riff showing that age has not dulled their edge.
My Ugly Boy, with its foot to the floor stomp was a clear highlight and the aptly titled Tear The Place Up literally left the crowd utterly breathless.
Returning for a five song encore including the gorgeous ballad Secretly and a thrashing cover of AC/DC’s Highway To Hell adding to the fun before Skin, divided the crowd in two and joined the swirling circle pit for The Skank Heads (Get Off Me) and a truly ferocious rampage through Little Baby Swastikkka.
Review and Photos By Mick Burgess
Be the first to comment