By Jim Rowland and Hannah Ross
Next month Skunk Anansie release their first new album in just over nine years with ‘The Painful Truth’ which, along with their current extensive European tour, is set to put the angsty London rockers firmly back on the map. Tonight that extensive tour hits Bournemouth’s O2 Academy, at the tail end of the ÜK leg.
In fact it’s quite refreshing to see a band like Skunk Anansie do a ‘proper’ tour of this country, visiting numerous towns and cities up and down the country, rather than just the select handful of dates a lot of bands settle for these days. Kicking off in February and going right through to the business end of Summer, they are really putting the hard work in on the road, and it’s no surprise that hard work is what they put into tonight’s show.
Kicking off with the powerful and doom-laden ‘This Means War’, the set is truly career-spanning featuring tracks from just about every album. With the new album ‘The Painful Truth’ not out until next month, the band wisely don’t swamp the set with the new material, but provide just the right amount of tasters, with ‘An Artist Is An Artist’ and ‘Animal’ strongly suggesting the album is going to be worth the wait.
Perhaps not surprisingly it’s the earlier big hitters like ‘I Can Dream’, ‘Twisted’, ‘Yes It’s Fucking Political’ and ‘Hedonism’ that really get the crowd moving, clapping and singing along, especially on ‘Weak’ where the Bournemouth crowd here excel themselves like a massive crowd choir.
From my time here I have noticed that, perhaps because not every band bothers to venture this far south, those bands that do make the effort receive an appreciative rapturous welcome and a crowd ready and willing to have a damn good time. It’s also good to see a pretty huge age range amongst the audience here, with plenty of fans who would have seen Skunk Anansie in the ‘90s rubbing shoulders with young fans who weren’t even born then, such as the bunch of birthday-celebrating 17 year olds at the front who Skin shares some good natured banter with.
There’s plenty of raucous moments provided by the likes of ‘Tear the Place Up’ and ‘The Skank Heads’ and I’m especially pleased to hear ‘Little Baby Swastikkka’, taking me back to the very early days of the band when I received a freebie one-sided 7” of that track from Radio One. I still have it too! It’s also a timely reminder that a lot of the issues that Skunk Anansie addressed then are just as relevant today. ‘Cheers’, also from the new album, shows that they’re still not afraid to tackle current issues either.
Skin is in fine form, voice intact and doesn’t seem to have aged at all, bouncing around the stage with that inimitable cheeky, confrontational and challenging persona also intact.
A well-oiled machine, Skunk Anansie still have plenty of fire in the belly, seem rejuvenated, and with the new album out on 23 May, look set to make a triumphant impact all over again.
- Photos taken at Manchester O2 Academy, 4 April 2025.
- All photos © Hannah Ross/Über Rock.
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