Skunk Anansie Tear The Place Up, Up, Up, Up at The Roundhouse!!

Skunk Anansie Tear The Place Up, Up, Up, Up at The Roundhouse!!

Skunk Anansie are undoubtedly one of, if not the hottest and most formidable bands on the UK music scene right now and tonight on the first night of their hotly anticipated two-night stint at the Iconic Roundhouse they were like a towering inferno of sheer and utter joyous rock magic and mayhem!

It’s over 30 years since Skunk Anansie exploded onto the UK music scene with their dynamic debut album ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt’. Fearlessly political and unapologetic, they quickly became the voice of a generation, the rebel yell with a conscious. When they played Finsbury Park in 1996 supporting The Sex Pistols and on the same bill as Iggy Pop, they literally blew every other band off the stage, including The Pistols themselves! They have always been at the cutting edge of rock, raw, defiant and authentic to their very bones, no one does it quite like Skunk Anansie does!!

And tonight, as they exploded onto the stage with an anarchic detonation and a burst of blinding white light with their opening track ‘This Means War’, they were back heavier and scorching hot with an energy so fierce and prevailing that it blew the audience’s minds!!

Stunningly dressed in flowing black leather, Skin Commanded the stage like a warrior queen as she whipped the crowd into a frenzy of euphoric dancing bodies all sharing the unbridled joy of this perfect moment with their musical heroes! The stage was dark and brooding 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 in an alien movie! One of the things that has always been a pivotal part of the success of this incredible band is the dynamic between them. As a band they write together and they love to play together, effortlessly bouncing off each other, their sound pure perfection on every level!

 

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! When they announced that they were rewriting the bible, the audience erupted into applause! Main vocalist Sophie was like the love child of Johnny Rotten and Poly Styrene with her acid tongue and signature snarl! Half the band were sporting pink balaclavas and they tore through their set like a flame thrower to the three little pigs house of straw!

Skunk’s set was a perfectly balanced blend of their older material and their newer tracks! Every song was seamlessly executed, it was like being on a rollercoaster of utter musical perfection, a thrilling hedonistic journey into the realms of rock mastery! Skin held the audience in the palm of her hand, it was like at anytime she could incite a riot!

Skin is a woman who seems to defy the rules of ageing as she prowled around the stage with a defiant and savage intensity, and when during, ‘I Can Dream’ she strutted into the audience and urged her devoted fans to jump, jump, jump before getting them to raise her up into air, as she rode upon the shoulders of a fan back to the stage, she was fearless to her core, proving that she is still a dangerous maverick of the highest order!

Then there was the moment where during ‘Piggy’ Skin rode across the crowd on the back of a huge inflatable punk pig much to the delight of their devoted fans! One of the most spine-tingling and exquisite tracks of the night was ‘Weak’ where Skin bleed emotion, it was an uttering stunning and heart wrenching performance. Breathtakingly beautiful and moving beyond words!

There were so many stand out moments on this incredible night that you could right a book about them, but one of the most electrifying was when they played the rage fueled ‘Little Baby Swastikkka’, the unbridled ferocity in which they delivered the track made it sound more vital and incendiary than ever before!

And as if they weren’t ecstatic enough, their fans were treated to a sneaky peek at three incredible tracks off the new album. The first of which, their latest single and the first off of the new album, ‘An Artist is an Artist’ stood proud amongst their earlier and much-loved material with its provocative and witty lyrics and pulsating beats, musical mastery at it’s very best, whereas, ‘Cheers’ with Cass’s catchy basslines, Ace’s rocking guitar and Skin’s razor-sharp vocals was absolutely stunning! Surely this has to be the new signal off the new album? If it’s not it jolly well should be!

So as the night came to an end with the incredible ‘You’ll Follow Me Down’ and the audience left the venue breathless and exhilarated, one thing was for sure, Skunk Anansie once again reign supreme! They have had a metamorphosis of sorts, returning stronger and better than ever before, reclaiming their crowns as Rock Royality! They are electrifying, dangerous and more vital than ever and I for one are coming along for the ride!

Review and photos by Louise Phillips

Photos of Skunk Anansie

Photos of So Good!

 

All Photos are owned by Louise Phillips Music Photography and cannot be shared without consent

skunkanansie.com

Setlist:

This Means War
Charlie Pig 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
Piggy
The Skank Heads (Get Off Me)
Tear the Place Up

Encore:
Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)
Cheers
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
Little Baby Swastikkka
You’ll Follow Me Down