reviews - Summer Festival Guide

Skunk Anansie – Birmginham O2 Academy 2025, REVIEWED!

April 8, 2025 by Anna Hyams

So Good

Tonight’s musical aperitif is a cheeky dip into the brat-punk pool of London artist So Good, backed up by band members in pink balaclavas, and singers in stompy doc marten boots. Frontwoman Sophie is decked out in pleated denim, neon pink socks and a matching Beret, spitting feminist anti-fascist lyrics with wild abandon – but giving distinct Leslie Knope’s Pawnee Goddess girl-guide energy.

© Anna Hyams Photography – Do not use without permission

I’m absolutely here for it, this infectious riot grrrl fun is coming back around, thanks (no thanks) to the state of the world around us right now, and we need more of it. “Her ex boyfriend is from Birmingham you know” Sophie points at one of her singers, “…so this one goes out to him, middle fingers up!” and the crowd obliges by joining in with the salute.

‘I Hate It Here’ about our repeatedly shit Prime Minister situation is very tongue in cheek funny, but also hits the nail on the head in so many ways. The line “…you ain’t stopped abortion just abortion that’s safe…” comes at a time where our news is full of professional victims hiding behind religion and free speech, to attack women in lawfully protected safe zones. Again, this kind of nonsense needs disrupting – and if it comes in the loud bright fun packaging of women’s rage-music, all the better in my opinion.

Just to break up the political discourse for a minute, “I heard a rumour that people from Birmingham have big dicks?” Sophie giggles before launching into ‘If I had A’ – a hilarious lament on penises and a very 70’s-porn twangy backing track.

Finishing up with a dose of blasphemy, ‘I Rewrote The Fucking Bible’ is the ultimate angry girl theme tune. There’s a hint of Lady Sovereign, a bit of Bikini Kill, and a lot of London. Straight on the protest playlist. So Good might already be my biggest band recommendation of the year, and it’s only April.

Skunk Anansie

It’s a packed-out shoulder-to-sweaty-shoulder affair in the O2 tonight, a sold out show for the return of Brit-rock royalty Skunk Anansie. The stage, moody with fog and blue lighting, centres on a drum riser crowned with black inflatable spikes. Drummer Mark Richardson makes his way to the centre of the sea urchin structure to immediate roars of appreciation from the crowd, as Cass and Ace take to the stage below.

The electric opening bars of ‘This Means War’ provide the perfect promenade for a duffel-coated Skin to enter the stage. Like some kind of menacing caterpillar waiting to break free, she bounces in on gigantic metal-plated boots, with a huge hood obscuring her face as she tears through the call-to-arms lyrics. Swapping into trainers and ditching the sleeping-bag for ‘Because of You’, we are treated to the soaring top notes Skin is famous for, the awed silence of the crowd as she holds an impossibly long note mid-song is truly something to behold.

Wearing a hybrid Adidas track top-turned tailcoat with the bouffant arms of a retro Nike shell-suit, and a swathe of leather and fabric kilt-ish skirts, Skin is known for her quirky stage dress – but this might be the one I would most like to own. It is hitting all the right nostalgia buttons for a fairly homogenously aged crowd – big up the 90’s teen crew, I see you all.

“Wonderlustre was released 15 years ago, this is the first single from that album… it’s called ‘God Loves Only You’. They’re loud. You know those Christian nationalists who think God loves only them? How can God love only you? With all the different races and genders?”

A huge roar of agreement erupts as Skin laments,

“They’ve aligned themselves with the far right, the KKK, fascism and Trumpism… which to me seems the opposite of religion. They want to go after immigrants, after women… the only way to defeat them is to go into our communities and families, and BRING EVERYONE BACK TOGETHER!”

“We are Skunk Anansie, we believe everybody is always equal. SMASH FASCISTS, SMASH RACISTS” comes the rallying cry. The following frenzy of the crowd serves a cathartic purpose for the pent-up anger and energy for the current state of the world, it’s obvious everyone needs this.

‘Weak’ is undeniably the anthem of the night, Skin’s voice is stunningly vibrant, perhaps better than I’ve ever heard her – but there is no vying for attention nor eclipsing of the band, who are non-stop pumping the energy as well. It may be as close to a perfect balance as I’ve come across in music, they just deliver on all fronts. The crowd is eventually singing along so loud that Skin gives over the spotlight to the voice of the masses.

Caressing the bald head of one of the security guards, before jumping down to the pit barrier to sing with the crowd during ‘Twisted (Everyday Hurts)’ it doesn’t take long before she has jumped into the melee full throttle.

Another Wonderlustre classic ‘My Ugly Boy’ keeps the hits coming with barely room to breathe, and the room is an absolute furnace with all the jumping. So much so that someone appears to have suffered a collapse near the middle of the room. Skin stops the show to check staff can get out to retrieve the person, and it’s all very quickly and efficiently done. Rolling onto a track from the new album (releasing on May 23rd – ‘The Painful Truth’) called ‘Animal’ – a full heavy metal moment, with a NIN-esque dirty beat behind it. I can tell this is going to be one of my most played albums of the year.

‘Yes It’s Fucking Political’ sees Skin calling for a circle pit, and the momentum of the night shows absolutely no sign of dropping. After a short exit, the encore houses another new one ‘Cheers’ which tiptoes the pop rock line in a very accessible way. I think this is going to be the one that draws in new Skunk fans for the 2020’s.

The iconic ‘Hedonism’ is followed by Led Zep’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ for a bit of riffy fun while doing band introductions. ‘The Skank Heads (Get Off Me)’ gives another opportunity for Skin to dive into the crowd, in which she calls for “all the girls to the mosh pit!”. Closing out with “We’ll do one more. Something loud? Something fast? Something delicate?” as she puts it, is another new song ‘Lost and Found’ – a slow, but gorgeous almost operatic wind-down, to a furiously dynamic show. As they thank the crowd and send set-list paper aeroplanes shooting out to grabbing hands, I think I can safely conclude that this might rank as my top gig of 2025 already.

As the new ‘Lost and Found’ lyric goes “Heavy is the crown” – but Skunk Anansie are really out here, 31 years into their career – seemingly lifting that crown higher each time I see them.

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
Tear the Place Up
Little Baby Swastikkka

Encore:

Cheers
Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
The Skank Heads (Get Off Me)
Lost and Found

Alice Cooper – Birmingham 2024: REVIEWED!

October 18, 2024 by Anna Hyams

In this, the month of Gothmas; the evenings have drawn in, inviting all the beautiful creeps out into the darkness. Ahem, ok I mean me. I am out traversing the canalways of Brindley Place in Birmingham to get to the Utilita Arena tonight for the one and only, Gothfather of Shock Rock – Alice freakin’ Cooper.

The Meffs

Up first tonight are edgy Essex duo The Meffs, a rowdy powerhouse of shouty punk. ‘Stamp It Out’ and ‘Broken Britain, Broken Brains’ are belted out with force, but their whole style absolutely requires a front standing section of moshing teenagers… and instead we have seated VIP’s.

‘Stand Up, Speak Out’ gets a better audience participation level, as the crowd warms up and remembers their angsty youth origins, as it’s easy to get into. I also enjoy their cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’, but their real stand out moment is a very punk middle finger; “This is a Love Song to the British government, it’s called Clowns”.

It’s a short and sweet set, bookended by a promise that they’re coming back “sometime in January”, and I think I’ll be trying to catch up with them then – in hopefully a more fitting environment where I can do some thrashing around.

© Anna Hyams for SFG – Do not use without permission

Primal Scream

Strutting onto the stage in a sparkling diamanté pinstriped suit, lead singer Bobbie Gillespie with his signature sullen-faced swagger, surveys the crowd. The band kick off with ‘Love Insurrection’ but a couple of bars in, Gillespie motions everyone to stop. “Wait stop, we fucked that up. Start again… it happens.”

The second try, “Oh there we go, the right key this time” is a smooth transition into their unique blend of funky electronic rock. The gorgeous soaring melody of the trio of backing vocalists really comes alive in ‘Ready To Go Home’, but the overall vibe in the room is left slightly flat by the complete seating area in the front. Primal Scream are a band to boogie to, and every other time I’ve seen them has been at festivals with room to groove, which just… isn’t this. Despite the rock-block of the setup, when Gillespie says “30 years ago we released Screamadelica… I dont know if you guys and girls know it… the first song was called ‘Movin’ On Up’. So if you want to sing along please do” the collective sigh of relief around the audience was palpable – here’s a song we can all sing along to – and we do. ‘Country Girl’ is an exercise in weaving that evangelical deep south church sound into a Glaswegian ditty, but it has the hook I can’t deny. Gillespie yells “Ladies, Gentlemen, Creatures, Thats theys and thems… let me fuckin hear you!” before they plough into their final iconic song ‘Rocks’ to end the set.

Alice Cooper

Slicing through a giant newspaper sheet printed with ‘BANNED IN ENGLAND’, using a cutlass, and employing one of the most iconic resting-bitch-faces in the world? Peak Alice Cooper behaviour. After this most excellent entrance, Alice is front and centre in his signature top-hat and leather trousers garb – sporting three belts and a frilly shirt, launching straight into ‘Welcome To The Show’. I am glad we as a country, have stopped trying to actually ban Alice Cooper from performing here, extremely embarrassing (three times) for us. Not that we don’t have other things to be embarrassed about, mind.

From the off, it is clear that Alice’s voice and energy is still absolutely top notch – something I can’t say about most other performers who’ve been going as long. The man is 76 and he’s careening around the stage and now swinging a crutch above his head like it’s nothing. ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ features a quick change into a custom battle jacket (which I would dearly like to pilfer), followed by a confetti gun used to spray the crowd in sparkly faux money for ‘Billion Dollar Babies’.

Bombshell guitarist Nita Strauss is absolutely ripping it up, under the watchful awe-struck eye of Alice. One thing I will note is that there is space made on this stage for every single artist to take the spotlight, and Alice showers all of them with reverence. It’s a nice thing to see from an artist as singular as he is, on the face of it.

Throwing a black cane to a fan on the front row, in order to take up his giant yellow snake who seems completely unbothered by the huge crowd, and is instead trying to see what guitarist Ryan Roxie is doing. I couldn’t find out the name of this snake (if anyone knows, hit me up) but I would like to do a quick mention of some of Alice’s previous snake-pals because they’re too good not to share. So big ups to; Julius Squeezer, Cobra Winfrey and Count Strangula. During a musical reprieve Alice can be seen just chatting to the snake and pointing things out to it, and now I have a vision of him walking around Birmingham taking his snake on a tour of the sights.

‘Lost In America’ sees Alice in a flag-adorned leather jacket, and he plays at murdering actors playing photographers (I do feel slightly targeted…) with the opening bars of the anthemic ‘Hey Stoopid’. The green lighting pulsing across the crowd now reveals a much more lively atmosphere, as people are standing and dancing along.

Two giant sets of prop stairs are wheeled around to face the crowd, with Alice atop one, bathed in spotlights and smoke for ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’, followed by his rather rough treatment of a very Sia-esque mannequin during ‘Cold Ethyl’. I also love him for brandishing four bulbous yellow maracas, and I’m not sure if they really are an instrument that can be played seductively – but he’s managing it, in a Gomez Addams sort of way.

An enormous cheer ripples around the arena for the iconic notes of ‘Poison’, and Alice is now rocking a gorgeous burgundy brocade jacket and a riding crop – another amazing souvenir for a lucky front row fan later on. ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ will never fail to give me chills, but I am a child of the Wayne’s World generation I guess. The giant stumbling monster comes out to lurk behind the guitarists, and he has more than a slight resemblance to Ozzy Osbourne with those upturned palms and shambling gait. I don’t think it’s on purpose, but we are in Birmingham so who knows.

‘Black Widow’ features on screen clips of Vincent Price, and an incredible Nita solo, before Alice’s straitjacket scene for ‘Ballad of Dwight Fry’. Kneeling on the riser, in a perfect beam of white light but uplit in green, Alice looks delightfully unhinged whilst being ‘tasered’ by his on-stage goons. Now enter Alice’s actual wife Sheryl Cooper, in her Marie Antionette get-up, to take him to the guillotine and then dance with his disembodied head. Each time I have seen this bit, I have wanted the head to sing along, alas.

‘Elected’ uses one of the stair sets now covered in stars and stripes, as a pulpit for Alice’s presidential speech (and yes he is still in the straitjacket, a nice touch). There’s a barrage of red white and blue spotlighting, and streamers sprayed out into the front rows, before the stage goes dark. As the school-bell rings, the lights go up on a stage filled with smoke-bubbles and Alice in a white tailcoat and tophat, brandishing another cane. Giant balloons are pushed out into the crowd and when they’re batted back to the stage, he pops them with a blade to expose bursts of sparkling confetti within.

“Birmingham England… Alice Cooper finally speaks to you!” he laughs, and introduces all of the members of the band, who have been predictably phenomenal tonight, ending with “She’s deadly, she’s delicious, she’s my one and only… Sheryl Cooper! …and playing the part of Alice Cooper tonight… big lights on… ME!”

“It’s great to be back in Birmingham, and it’s almost Halloween… so from all of us – to all of you, may all of your nightmares be horrific, Goodnight!” Alice bows to the audience. I would see Alice Cooper on every night of this tour if I could, standing front and centre. There is something quite magical about this type of show, that I don’t think is going to be on the menu in 20 years, which is a bit sad. Immersion, theatre, a willingness to take life with a pinch of whimsy – alongside truly iconic music, taken as a tonic in an uncomfortable world.

In the immortal words of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, we truly are not worthy.

SETLIST

Lock Me Up (Shortened)
Welcome to the Show
No More Mr. Nice Guy
I’m Eighteen
Under My Wheels
Bed of Nails
Billion Dollar Babies
Snakebite
Be My Lover
Lost in America
He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Hey Stoopid
Drum Solo (Glen)
Welcome to My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Go to Hell
Poison
Feed My Frankenstein
The Black Widow (Vincent Price segment)
Guitar Solo (Nita)
Black Widow Jam (Full Band Solo)
Ballad of Dwight Fry
I Love the Dead (Opened with Killer snippet)
Elected

Encore:

School’s Out (With Another Brick in the Wall snippet & band introductions)
I’m Alice

Field Day 2015 Review – Sunday

November 8, 2018June 9, 2015 by Aurelija Rancovaite

Field Day Sunday catered to a more rock and alternative following with a mix of new up-and-coming bands to legends including Patti Smith and Ride. Although the day did not sell out, it provided much more overall engagement from the artists which led to some stellar standout performances.

Brooklyn shoe-gaze group DIIV (named after a Nirvana song) formed in 2011 and have since released a debut LP. Looking like they just rolled out of bed, DIIV debuted some new unheard material on the Eat Your Own Ears Stage that sounded promising but slightly missed the mark. Fortunately, they redeemed themselves with playing older, more well known tracks including ‘How Long Have you Known’ and ‘Doused’, both of which received a warm reception from the crowd.

A quick sprint to the Verity stage left some time to catch up-and-coming London alt-rock trio Happyness who lit up the stage with their humble persona and chilled guitar sequences.

Mac DeMarco is known to always put on a good show and he definitely did not disappoint on the last date of their tour. The constant banter between the band-mates and the crowd led to lots of laughter and eventually to Mac crowd surfing over most of the Eat Your Own Ears stage to rapturous applause. The set did get awkward at times, especially when the band’s guitarist, Andy, got hit square in the face with an orange but this did not deter the band from delivering standout tracks including ‘Brother’, ‘Salad Days’ and a spur of the moment rendition of The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’ by bassist Pierce (whilst Andy’s guitar was fixed). Love song ‘Together’ and a guitar solo from Andy finished off the set and left the crowd disappointed that it was over.

The former frontman of 90s Britpop favourites Supergrass, Gaz Coombes delivered a stellar solo set at the Shacklewell Arms tent. Having released 2 critically acclaimed LPs since going solo, it was of no surprise that Supergrass seemed like a distant memory. Tracks ‘20/20’ and ‘Break The Silence’ were met with strong appreciation and the meaningful and moving track ‘The Girl Who Fell To Earth’ cemented Gaz Coombes as a musician who is capable of anything.

Photos by Carolina Faruolo

Punk-rock legend Patti Smith was a well-received addition to the Field Day line-up. Performing her 1975 album ‘Horses’, the crowd felt every emotion possible – there were smiles, hugs and even tears by the end of the set. The most tear-jerking moment was towards the end of ‘Horses’ when Patti Smith paid tribute to lost musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed and Brian Jones amongst others including John Nash. To the crowd’s surprise, more tracks were played including a splendid cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation’ to finish and ultimate crowd pleaser ‘Because the Night’.

Another up-and-coming indie group, five-piece Londoners Gengahr filled the Verity tent with a smooth, easy listening sound perfect for the summer weather. Echoing vocals and clever time sequences showed the crowd that they are full of surprises and do not hesitate to push the boundaries, however small or large they might be. Gengahr are definitely a band to watch.

London’s Savages caused quite a buzz around Field Day as they had not played a UK show for quite some time but they truly stood out. Tearing up the Shacklewell Arms stage to a packed out crowd, front woman Jehnny Beth oozed confidence and cool, crowd surfing through the audience and fuelling the already rowdy crowd to get even rowdier. ‘City’s Full’ kicked off the set with new material quickly following. Jehnny informed the crowd of a new record in the works and vented her frustration of the current political climate with a short, snappy track – ‘Fucker’ and ended the set with gritty track ‘Husbands’. From what we saw of today’s set, Savages will only keep getting better and better.

Dutch 24-year-old Jacco Gardner sounds (and looks) like something straight from the 60s with his echoing high vocals and psych-pop guitar melodies. Playing the Verity tent to a packed out crowd, Jacco Gardner’s vocals sadly got lost at times and therefore did not have the same effect as on record.

Ride’s headline set was a big deal – it was a reunion. Their debut album ‘Nowhere’ still holds the status as one of the best shoe-gaze albums (and one you should listen to before you die!). This was their first gig together as a full band in twenty years, which led to a lot of emotional people in the crowd at the Eat Your Own Ears stage. Ride played so tightly together that you never would have guessed they ever broke up. Career-spanning tracks played included ‘Birdman’ and ‘Leave Them All Behind’, which closed this year’s Field Day.

Photos by Carolina Faruolo

Field Day 2015 Review – Saturday

November 8, 2018June 8, 2015 by Aurelija Rancovaite

Field Day, held in East London’s Victoria Park and now in its eighth year, is a festival that always caters to a wide range of music tastes. This is arguably what puts it ahead of its rivals and cements its status as one of, if not, the best London music festivals of its kind. Saturday’s line up leant slightly towards the electronic but did not fail in providing ticket holders with a first class choice of acts that led to the day selling out.

London’s Benjamin Garrett, who goes by the stage name Fryars, attracted an impressive and attentive crowd during his mid-afternoon set at the Shacklewell Arms stage. A firm favourite with music critics, Fryars set the day’s bar high with his piano pop melodies and sweet, meaningful vocals. Starting his set off slow with tracks including a rather sombre ‘On Your Own’, Fryars finished on a high with ‘Cool Like Me’ – an upbeat track reminiscent of Daft Punk which was the main highlight of the set. It may be true that Fryars sounds better on record and looks like a hipster but the set did not feel out of place on the festival bill.

Photos by Carolina Faruolo

As soon as Kindness hit the stage albeit a bit late, it was clear the crowd were in for a treat, as the whole band seemed in very high spirits. The brainchild of Brit Adam Bainbridge, Kindness were no strangers to the worldwide music scene having played everywhere from South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas to the Sydney Opera House. What was great about this band was there was no hierarchy – each member of the group had their time to shine. We had impressive melodic vocal solos from the chirpy backing singers, various co-ordinated dance moves and a lot of tambourine shaking. There was even a guest performance and a funk inspired cover of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, which got the whole crowd going. With the qualities of both Jungle and Primal Scream, it was an impressive set that would no doubt keep you grooving. Kindness were definitely the highlight set of the day and very much screamed funk and soul soundtrack of summer.

Scottish art-rock favourite’s Django Django used their Field Day set to play tracks from their recently released new album ‘Born Under Saturn’ which received a great response from the crowd. The track ‘Reflection’ was a particular crowd pleaser.

A sneak peek into the packed Crack Magazine tent uncovers electronica favourite Chet Faker performing a cover of Backstreet’s ‘No Diggity’ for which the crowd go wild.

One of the most hyped artists of this year, FKA Twigs was unapologetically late to start her set at the Crack Magazine stage. It seemed that the crowd forgave all as she appeared, engulfed in mountains of smoke and began flirting with the audience. Almost ethereal in her presence, it seemed that the crowd were admiring her beauty more than admiring her music and this seemed to translate into a somewhat disconnected performance as she tried to keep the mystery alive. The acoustics in the tent were not great but FKA Twigs’s trip hop beats and whispery vocals still managed to mesmerise the overflowing crowd ready in time for Caribou’s headline set.

Photos by Carolina Faruolo

It may be surprising to some that Caribou headlined Field Day Saturday but Canadian Dan Snaith’s band has established a huge cult following since its inception in 2005. The career spanning set produced not only the best of the electronic and the psychedelic but also included a spectacular visual display, which truly secured their status as an impressive headline act. Highlights included the lead single from 2010 Album ‘Swim’ – ‘Odessa’ and ‘Our Love’.