Get Thin With Skin

After seeing Skunk Anansie at the UEA on Thursday night I had hiccups from the tremulous base, a possible heart murmur from the shuddering crescendo's of rock and slight deafness from the relentless drum bashing, screamy rock and roll blues of support band The Virgin Mary's. Was it worth it? Definitely.

   My girlfriend is a massive Skin fan, along with (from what I saw of the various cliques in the audience) other lesbians, die hard fans in their thirties and forties, students wanting a bit of a mosh before blearily belting out "Weak" and the alternative dread locked or Gothic who were caked in eye make up that they portrayed to be as dark as their soul. Me? Well, to sound like the emo and socially challenged: I didn't quite fit in.

  What I knew of Skunk Anansie was obviously that Skin, with her shaved head and fierce unconventional beauty, was the star of the band. In the 90s she demanded to be seen and heard as she belted out hits such as "Weak", "Secretly", "Twisted" and "Hedonism". Of her songs I knew the usual suspects but had never thought to buy the albums.

  Skunk Anansie disbanded for a while and it all went a bit quiet so when Alicia excitedly told me they were touring again I had the same reaction as most people: "Skunk Anansie are still around?!" The answer to everyone is yes. Yes they are and they are bloody amazing live so next time they're touring go see them!

  We arrived early so we could get front row views. Sadly we didn't notice the massive speaker that was practically snogging me it was so close to my face.  The Virgin Mary's came on, a band I had never heard of and assumed would be a group of sneering, feminist dykes with chains hanging from each of their nipples and attached to each others in a symbolic and kinky show of solidarity. How wrong I was. Three hillbilly Leedonian's strolled on to the stage and proceeded to deafen me in an unrelenting display of rock and roll noise and energy. So much noise, in fact, that I would blink / flinch with my eye lids every time the incredibly talented drummer battered the drums. Although I enjoyed the Virgin Mary's after three songs I just wanted them to get off the stage to save my ears.

  Once The Virgin Mary's left the stage a curtain fell and hid it from view. At 9pm a light display began as Skin  did a bit of DJing that got everyone dancing. She then came to the front of the stage, showing her silhouette that displayed a rather impressive feather boa and stiletto's. The curtain fell and the band jumped straight into one of their more rocky songs. I watched, open mouthed, bewildered yet astounded, as Skin raced around the stage like a woman half her age. Her energy and charisma was a sight to be seen and I doubt any other singer has drawn my attention to them as much at a gig. 

As Skin jumped, skipped, twisted, climbed and ran around the stage I couldn't help but think she should bring out a fitness DVD. It could be called "Get Thin With Skin" and the blurb could be:

"Oi, Charlie big couch potato! Weak are you are, get your Twisted body off the sofa. Secretly you want to be thin and you're going to get thin with Skin! Now you're going to aerobicise to my Glorious Pop Songs you Hedonist. Remember, just because it tastes good doesn't make it right."

I think it would be a best seller, frankly.

   When she wasn't singing Skin was so brazen and tongue in cheek with her own on stage pomposity that you couldn't help but be sucked in by her. It was a similar on stage charisma to Tiggs of Chew Lips fame; it's an indescribable ability to draw people to them and keep people hanging on to their every word. 

   The die hard fans sang along to all of Skunk Anansie's songs but it was when they sang "Weak" that the crowd went wild, jumping, moshing and screaming with joy as Skin walked on people's hands and shoulders before being crowd surfed back to the stage. Quite how her voice remained so strong and in tune as people grabbed at her was a mystery but she managed it with ease.

  After an hour and a half of mesmerising entertainment the band praised one another and did a solo of each of their instruments. It was nice to see that, after all the years they have been working together, they still enjoyed being in the band and touring. Even if you only know a couple of songs I would definitely recommend Skunk Anansie as a band to see. Skin bouncing about in a cat suit was worth the price of the ticket alone.