Originally written for HINTF
After hitting the Lisbon and Porto Coliseus last year, during the “Wonderlustre” tour, SKUNK ANANSIE repeated the treat with their new album “Black Traffic”.
They brought with them Australian THE JEZABELS, who got on stage at nine sharp. A short performance, thirty minutes only, but which the venue, still half-full, welcomed warmly.
The sound of this band from Sydney is more indie than rock, providing a semi-light rhythm in an intimate ambience. In fact, despite the stage size, all four members clustered in the centre, very close to each other, as to enhance that intimacy. And with the same purpose, also the lights were kept still, in deeps shades of blue and green.
Hayley Mary thanked SKUNK ANANSIE for the opportunity and then to the audience she did so several times, in Portuguese. But it was for her/their performance that she got the applauses for, not for the “obrigado”. And closer to the end, when she asked us to greet them (“we’re THE JEZABELS, say hi!”), the response was explosive.
Among others we listened to “A Little Piece”, “Hurt Me” and “Dark Storm”.
It was also half an hour that the intermission between bands lasted. And around ten o’clock, when the SKUNK ANANSIE intro finally made itself heard and the videowall in the back was set in motion, Coliseu was then practically full. “The Skank Heads”, a classic from 1999 already, was the electrifying opening theme, followed suit with no interruption by “I Will Break You”, from the brand new “Black Traffic”.
Always smiling, Skin thanked us for getting out of the house in that rainy night. But SKUNK ANANSIE‘s popularity among Lusitanian territory is such – and the participation of the crowd throughout the whole show is living proof of that – that I believe Coliseu would be just as full even if it was snowing.
After a few more animated songs, things slowed down a bit with another new song that Skin introduced as “Hero” – its full title being “I Hope You Get To Meet Your Hero” and whose video in the band’s official YouTube channel has reached almost 78.000 views in little over than a month. Right afterwards, the rhythm was back at full speed, Skin inciting everyone into dancing and jumping to the sound of “Twisted (Everyday Hurts)”.
In some songs Skin proved knowing how to play guitar – “My Ugly Boy” being the first of them. “Weak” and “Hedonism (Just Because You Feel So Good)” – the latter dedicated to all of those who “have been coming to see us in a very long time” – took the fans and the hangers-on to cloud nine. But the climax was reached in “I Can Dream”, when Skin got up to the right balcony, strolling and greeting the people while singing. From there she went to the mixing table, in the centre of the venue, and the return to the stage was made via crowdsurfing.
SKUNK ANANSIE proved once again their excellency in concert and the songs from “Black Traffic” seemed to convince just as well. A show where “Charlie Big Potato” and “Secretly” also marked some of the hightlights, Skin and her 45 years of age certainly made a lot of 20-year-old girls envious of her great energy. And, of course, of her incomparable voice.
Front Row Forever 