SKUNK ANANSIE– BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY, 05 APRIL 2025

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

A little like Black Velvet, Skunk Anansie formed in 1994. And so, like ours, last year was their 30th anniversary, and, while the quartet did divert away into solo projects and other career ventures in 2001, the four-piece have been going strong since reconvening in 2008/2009. With six albums under their belt, 2025 sees their lucky seventh – ‘The Painful Truth’, set for release on May 23rd. The first single released from the upcoming release, ‘An Artist Is An Artist’, is everything you expect from this vital band, with lyrics about how a female artist doesn’t stop being an artist just because she’s a certain age, how she won’t stop creating because of menopause, and won’t stop creating because anyone else tells her to. Opinionated, honest and direct, it’s everything you love about Skunk Anansie. It’s why we hope Skin, Ace, Cass Lewis and Mark Richardson will never stop creating.    

Birmingham is a sold-out show, part-way through a sold-out tour, and it’s the perfect Saturday night for it. After an impressive set by the fun and quirky Brat pop outfit So Good, Skunk Anansie charge into their set with the provocative ‘This Means War’, with its sludgy riffs. Skin stomps around the stage, enrapturing the audience. 

The aforementioned ‘An Artist Is An Artist’ pops up early on in the 21-song set, after a couple of the band’s earlier hits, 1999’s ‘Charlie Big Potato’ and 2009’s vulnerable self-empowerment single ‘Because Of You’. It’s perfectly positioned, sparking excitement for the upcoming new album. It’s also like the proverbial pudding, with proof in it that Skin and the band are sounding as good as they’ve ever sounded. Skin’s voice is immaculate, and her energy is as high as ever. The ever-youthful, seemingly never-aging singer bounces around the stage.

The pumping, pulsating ‘Love Someone Else’ sees Skin jumping up and down like a boxer in a ring. Cass’s bass throbs as he steps forward, while the frontwoman explains the meaning of the song ‘God Loves Only You’ (it’s about religious hierarchy) before the band play it. 

Slower ballad ‘Secretly’ sees the whole audience sing along before the timeless and legendary hit ‘Weak’ melts the hearts of everyone. Skin goes into the middle of the audience during the invigorating ‘I Can Dream’, while ‘Twisted (Everyday Hurts)’ gets everyone dancing and bouncing. 

There’s a second song from the new album in the form of the powerful ‘Animal’, while a third, ‘Lost And Found’ (released as a single during the tour), ends the show. Although, before that, we get the amazing ‘Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)’ and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’, where the band members are introduced to the crowd - not forgetting ‘Yes It’s Fucking Political’ and ‘Little Baby Swastikkka’. Skin also heads back into the crowd for ‘The Skank Heads’, where she tries to get all the girls into the mosh pit. We definitely have a whole lotta love for Skunk Anansie, who are as essential today as they were in the 90s. A fabulous show by four fantastic artists, who we are so very glad are still creating.