Let's turn the 25th anniversary tour in 2019 (live report here) into a round 30! 30 years of SKUNK ANANSIE and they are still going strong! I mean really strong! Almost every show on this run is sold out.
With the new album The Painful Truth up their sleeves, which will be released in May, the Brits are taking off again and honoring the mainland with a tour. And, anyone who has ever seen SKUNK ANANSIE live knows that you are always blown away by a great, energetic show, full of sharp and political statements. I've seen SKUNK ANANSIE live a few times now and I've always been absolutely fascinated and totally thrilled by the show!

Of course, I wanted to be there and tried hard to get in with my pen and camera. But… what about a different location? Always Cologne. Always Palladium or E-Werk. It is a bit boring in the long run ;) Münster would be nice, wouldn't it? ;) However, let’s hit the road to hell. Erm… Cologne. The weather is now moderate again, so that not every single resident of NRW is looking for salvation outside in the sun and nature (so it happened during the last week with summer-like temperatures). The highways are therefore not overcrowded, so I arrived extra early despite the masses of roadworks. Good thing, because I was able to find a pleasant parking space.

Moved up from the E-Werk opposite, the :: Palladium :: is also sold out. Of course. Instead of 2,000 fans, there are now 4,000, who, full of anticipation, stock up on merch in the foyer and look for a spot as close to the stage as possible. The prices are steep: 40 euros for a shirt, 60 euros for a zipper and even 20 euros for a tote bag. Only one type of shirt at a time and no CDs.
What was noticeable, the average age of the audience is quite high. That’s all fans who have grown old with the band. Do the young people no longer listen to alternative music anymore?

:: pics :: SO GOOD ::

Well, be that as it may, first there was :: SO GOOD :: - a British TikTok phenomenon. At least that's what we read. Nothing more precise is known. Is it a (real) band or a solo project with live musicians? Gathering information about the girls around Sophie Bokor-Ingram is a challenge. The choice of name doesn't make it any better. If that was the intention... interesting marketing ;) But it might also be because I belong to the Facebook generation and don't have TikTok, Spotify or similar accounts. Information on their Insta and YouTube channels is de facto non-existent.
Musically, SO GOOD are described as “Ignorant Brat Pop - The future of degenerative Punk”. WHAT???
Ok, “Brat Girls” are a hip trend that has arrived in my perception. Like the It girls of old, only in neon green. Or something like that. SO GOOD are loud, cheeky and offer a shrill mixture of Hip Hop and Punk. And SO GOOD are exaggerated beyond measure, musically counteracting their daily lives and social environment. In addition to the three girls, the two men in pink masks on guitar and drums fit in perfectly.
But, I had the feeling that the audience was a bit overstrained by their performance ;) SO GOOD pushed it even further when asking: "We heard the rumors, that the people of Cologne have really big dicks. Me, too. Mine is really big". There wasn't much feedback. Or were the people of Cologne embarrassed? ;)
SO GOOD were certainly not the support band that one might have expected from Skunk Anansie and Skunk Anansie have never had... let's say, classic mainstream bands on tour with them. SO GOOD were a real challenge, even if it was only for about 30 minutes. I'm still not quite sure what to make of the band... hahaha.

Band: Sophie Bokor-Ingram (vox), Olivia Sherry (vox), Beth Dare (vox), guitarist, drummer
Setlist: Inheritance, Hate, I Hate It Here, Hot, If I Had A, Industry Plant, 1994, I Rewrote The F**king Bible, I Will Love You

:: pics :: SKUNK ANANSIE ::

And the show lingered on while the audience waited for the main act ;) And then it got really, really crowded in the Palladium. You could cut the air and after a short time, it took its toll and the first fans were sitting on the floor outside in the foyer, literally out of breath and fainting.
With the last notes of Nine Inch Nails in our ears, :: SKUNK ANANSIE :: entered the stage under the guidance and surveillance of the Anansie spider and opened their show with three classics, directly followed by the first new single released from the new album, An Artist Is An Artist.

Front woman Skin hopped across the stage like a Michelin man, wearing “inflated?” XXXXXL clothes. This went perfectly with the black... um... spikes?, which were also filled with air. But it didn't exactly emphasize her otherwise timeless and ageless beauty. But maybe that was exactly the purpose. She only wore the inflatable clothes for the first two songs and then changed to something more comfortable ;)
They have all grown old. The hair of Ace, Cass and Mark is gray, the dreads of Cass are off. You can't see Skin's age, of course, but you can tell a bit from their performance. Not that this detracts from the show in the slightest...

Before God Loves Only You, Skin once again gave a passionate speech for the equality of all people, for freedom and peace (and against the hypocrisy of the Christian faith, against white old men who want to rule everything and everyone). Yes, SKUNK ANANSIE are still fucking political. And they are right! Today more than ever.

SKUNK ANANSIE's setlist created nice and wonderful dynamics with calm and powerful songs, that gave Skin in particular a breather here and there before she gave it her all again and jumped into the audience, among other things.
But it's certainly no secret that it's the classics in particular that thrill the audience and are sung along to so loudly by the fans, such as on Weak or I Can Dream (where Skin then also jumped into the crowd), that Skin was (almost) able to take a break ;) Next to the aforementioned An Artist Is An Artist, there were two more new tracks from the new album The Painful Truth with Animal and Cheers.

What a band! What a show! After 30 years now, SKUNK ANANSIE are still rocking concert halls and thrill the audience, who applauded more than gratefully and didn't let the band leave the stage for a long time. Yes, as I mentioned at the beginning... a SKUNK ANANSIE show is ALWAYS a highlight! Great to have seen the Brits live again! That was a great evening!
And now I’m looking forward to The Painful Truth, to be released on May 23 via FLG Records.

Band: Skin (vox), Ace (git), Cass (bass), Mark (drums)
Setlist: This Means War, Charlie Big 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, Yes It's Fucking Political, The Skank Heads (Get Off Me), Tear The Place Up // Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good), Cheers, Little Baby Swastikkka // You'll Follow Me Down