Skunk Anansie, So Good at The Roundhouse, London, 28.03.2025

I have been a music obsessive my whole life, it’s been my one constant hyperfixation, and I have channeled my other talents and interests to intersect as much as they can. This is a roundabout way of saying that you would think that after doing this music photography and writing for a decade and half, I’d be seasoned and nothing would phase me – and yet I found myself walking into The Roundhouse on Friday evening shaking like a leaf, emotional and hyper. And that is because photographing and reviewing Skunk Anansie was a BIG DEAL. My Stoosh CD survived a country move and subsequent countless house moves, but despite not having anything to play it on for a good chunk of time – it stayed with me since my very formative teenage years (dear reader – that is a lot of years).

As I was getting my gear ready in the photo pit, a man roughly two decades my senior started a chat and remarked how beautiful and grand the venue was and asked me whether I’ve been here before because it was his first time – and it filled me with so much gratitude that my obsession allows me to be there so often when for some people just being there is a BIG DEAL.

So Good

Opening the proceedings were a band who sum themselves up with their name alone – So Good erupted onto the stage like a firecracker, pronouncing “our generation – yeah, we’re fucked!’. A TikTok sensation, the band consists of Sophie Bokor-Ingram and her two backing singers / dancers and ski-mask clad musicians. Think Pussy Riot on the instruments and and anarchist Cher Chorovitz from Clueless on vocals, So Good are not afraid to draw on the pop-cultural iconography (the cover of the banger of a single ‘I Rewrote The Fucking Bible’ is a variation on the Burn Book from Mean Girls). Proudly calling themselves ‘ignorant brat pop’, their sound blends drill, hip hop and punk and the lyrics offer sharp commentary on womanhood in the 21st century.

They dedicated not one but two songs to Donald Trump, with a call to the audience to stuck the middle finger up to the fascists – which everyone was happy to oblige. The first one was their incredibly powerful single ‘Hate’, which is well worth 1 minute and 14 seconds of your time. They perfectly blend tongue-in-cheekness with incredible self awareness. They own their sexuality and the dance routines are full of slut drops and twerking, but they continuously subvert, like by introducing ‘If I Had A’ with an anecdote about everyone telling them that London has the biggest dicks, to which Sophie replied ‘well I’m from London and I have the biggest dick!’ However we all know that terrible political times usually result in the best, most subversive art, and ‘I Hate It Here’ from the EP Dogs is the perfect summary: the opening lyrics are “We had the worst Prime Minister ever / and then we had the worst Prime Minister ever / and now we’ve got the worst Prime Minister ever”, to which I say – mic drop.

Skunk Anansie

Soon the covers concealing the impressive stage design came down revealing a wall of black spikes and we were ready for Skunk Anansie to return to London stage, and against a backdrop of the jagged spikes Richard “Cass” Lewis, Martin “Ace” Kent and Mark Richardson took to their instruments – and allowed Skin to erupt onto the stage to the sound of ‘This Means War’, proving that they were punk royalty for a reason, and when the world is turning to a dumpster fire – punk becomes more relevant than ever.

There is no denying – Skin is an incredible front woman. Her voice live is an even bigger powerhouse than you expect from the records. She arrived on stage in a huge black coat which by the end of the first song was on the floor, revealing a latex boiler suit worn with Balenciaga boots on a huge platform – iconic, quintessential punk. However what cemented her iconic status was her disappearing after the second track for a moment backstage – just to return in a pair of equally badass comfy trainers. Skin – as someone who appreciates a goth boot just to cry for my feet later – I bow down to you. But it seems that the whole band is down to earth like that. When I was queueing for my pass, Cass was greeting old friends in front of me, waiting until the passes arrived at the box office desk, making sure everyone gets in and Mark Richardson was happy to snap photos with some of my fellow photographers before the show.

Leading up to the release their first new album in 17 years (The Painful Truth, coming out on 23rd May), they peppered the new tracks in between the classics from their early albums and their first single from the upcoming LP ‘An Artist Is An Artist’ followed right after ‘Because Of You’ from the 2009’s Ashes and Trashes. As I looked around me, I noticed that the room was filled with people who have definitely been with the band from the start – some people brought their teenage or grownup kids. Announcing ‘God Loves Only You’, Skin delivered a passionate speech saying how they wrote this song 14 years ago, when the religious and far right movements were brewing:

We respect all people and all countries, everyone is fucking equal and everyone deserves to live their lives, without the need to defend themselves. Together we will fucking smash them. If you are having to defend others, this song, with gratitude, is dedicated to you – Skin

And it made me realise that Skunk Anansie truly were trailblazers for inclusion and belonging, and their music reaching me when it did absolutely contributed to me becoming the person that I am today, who quite often defends others who just want to live their lives, but the current political climate is making it difficult. And if that wasn’t an emotional enough moment during the gig, then the song that came after – ‘Secretly’ – reduced me to a puddle because it feels like home to me (it also happens to have been included in one of the best movie soundtracks of all time – or at least the late 90s – that is Cruel Intentions). From then on we were off to the races with the huge hits like ‘Weak’, ‘I Can Dream’ during which Skin crowdsurfed and ‘Twisted (Everyday Hurts)’, which turned the room into a huge mosh pit (a man next to me was raving like nobody was watching and it made me realise that in that moment that gig was genuinely the safest space for anyone to be).

The event that made the night though was the appearance of a huge inflatable pig with a septum piercing, on which Skin rode into the crowd while singing ‘Piggy’ (what else?). Despite falling off, she was immediately held up by the people and the pig got swallowed up by the crowd just to re-emerge with Skin riding it triumphantly and being carried across the whole floor of the Roundhouse on the arms of faithful and adoring fans. I haven’t seen anything more badass than this in my entire life.

After ‘Tear The Place Up’, which was the perfect (first) finale, the thunderous applause and cheers brought the band back onto the stage and they continued to showcase their masterful, tight musicianship by delivering the seminal hit ‘Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)’, which was an incredibly bonding experience – I overheard a couple of women behind me remarking how it used to soundtrack their terrible break ups, and nothing could have been more relatable. They threw in a a Led Zeppelin cover of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and finished on ‘Little Baby Swastikka’ (to round up the theme of sticking it up to the fascists) and ‘You’ll Follow Me Down’ was the perfect lullaby to send us off with. I can say with absolute confidence that it was definitely the gig of the year for me – and potentially of the decade. I cannot see how anything can top such an impassioned performance by the most incredibly tight and skilled group of musicians with punk anthems delivered at the time when we need them most.