She is 57 years old and wore her upper body like a battle-ready alien. At one point, a broad-shouldered security guard had to help Skin up from the moshpit, and when she again stood on stage, she pointed down at him and said: “If you wanna have sex later, I'm in.” That's when I knew this was going to be no genderless nostalgia concert.
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Disclaimer: Apropos Magazine received access or a review copy. As always, we share our own impressions — unfiltered.
Six stars
There is something powerful about musicians not trying to be younger than they are. Skin stood on stage as just what she is: a legend, a freak, a voice with splinters in it.She threw her microphone into the audience, smoked herself down there, was lifted up by a broad-shouldered helper (who got quite a lot of attention from the stage afterwards), and said things which weren't tired touring clichés. It didn't seem rehearsed. And that alone made an impression.
But that is. It's also been 30 years since they peaked. And you can feel that. Not much has happened to the soundscape since Stoosh, and at one point during the concert I caught myself thinking: Come on, this might as well have been in 1996.. Not as a praise, necessarily. More like a finding that Skunk Anansie still sounds like Skunk Anansie — and you have to feel that for yourself whether you think it's good or bad.
Personally, I liked Weak, though that wasn't the number that caused the crowd to explode. Those were the harder tracks — and fair enough, we're at Copenhell. Not too many people have come to feel vulnerable. But when “Charlie Big Potato” rolled in across the square, it actually felt like you'd been invited into a future where the '90s still have something to say. And it felt... right.
The audience was well received. Perhaps especially because Myles Kennedy had called off and people could have come with their arms over crosses. But this band got knocked it up. It takes balls and nerve. And they still have.
Reflection:
It wasn't perfect. It wasn't modern. But it was real. And sometimes it's more than plenty. Skin is not here to please anyone. She came to show teeth. And she did -- with huge respect, bare skin and decibels that felt fiercer than her age. I hope she offered Mr. Muscle a backstage beer.
