Having realised the majority of people reading this will be 14 I’m going to start with a little history lesson. We’re going back to the dark days when kids were running around the playground pretending to be Power Rangers and mobile phones were practically bricks. The 1990’s saw a wave of new British Talent hitting the music scene spawning the term ‘BritPop’
Skunk Anansie were probably one of the biggest British bands in the 90’s. Riding the wave of Brit pop, they offered something different; with an aggressive and powerful front woman (called Skin) they created a genre of their own, BritRock. If you thought that boy bands were boring and weren’t a fan of parker wearing Mancunians you were generally a fan of Skunk Anansie. The band was hugely successful but fell into a bit of a black hole and disappeared from the British music scene.
I’m always pessimistic of bands that reform. Are they doing it to pay off their mortgages or do they genuinely want to start making music again? Thankfully, I feel Skin, Cass Ace and Mark are back for noble reasons. I headed down to Birmingham O2 Academy excited to hear their old classics and interested about how their new album ‘Wonderlustre’ would be received by the crowd.
A cheer erupted from the audience as an image of a heart was projected on a ghostly thin white curtain that shrouded the stage from view. Feeling a low rubble of bass the roar of the crowd grew. Lights flickered behind the curtain, intermittently bathing the stage in an eerie red glow. Silhouetted by the lights, the band walked onto the stage and donned appropriate poses. Skin raised her arms and the curtain dropped. The crowd surged forward as Skunk Anansie began with the aggressive and particularly relevant song ‘Yes It’s F**king Political.’ Their aggression hadn’t been lost during their absence with a relentless onslaught of light and sound that continued throughout the performance.
One of the high points was Skins fantastic interaction with the crowd. At one point, she literally stood on the shoulders of her fans and walked across the audience.
It was a fantastic spectacle to watch and proves that absence can make the heart grow fonder. The stage was well dressed with one of the most beautiful black drum kits I’ve ever seen. The new songs were received well but not to the same rapture of the older ones like ‘Weak’. ‘Wonderlustre’ is available to buy now and I’d recommend heading down to watch them if they play near you.
By Jamie Powis
www.kicfm.com/shows/interviews
No comments:
Post a Comment