Skin at Brixton Academy
I finally got to see Skunk Anansie for the first time in December 2012 at Brixton Academy. This photo of Skin was taken that night. She was born in Brixton, grew up there and used to work at the Academy on nights like these–so she told us anyway...
Amongst all the other Britpop / Britrock / Indie bands I listened to as a teenager in the 90s, Skunk Anansie stood out. The rage in their sound, the political message in their lyrics and the iconic Skin as frontwoman. The first Black British woman to headline Glastonbury.
Just before I took this picture, she’d said she wanted to go to the back of the crowd to see what the view was like from where she used to stand when working there. And so she sang the last song, the anti-fascist ‘Little Baby Swastikkka’, travelling from the front to the back on that sea of hands, diving off the sound desk and floating back again. Unforgettable.
Matt | Reading