Skunk Anansie, 18th June 2025, Heviti, Copenhell Festival, Denmark

Photo: Goran www.facebook.com/UrbanMescaleroPhotography

With their seventh studio album The Painful Truth just released, Skunk Anansie are hitting the festival circuit—and in the case of Copenhagen, they’re playing Copenhell for the first time, shortly after headlining a sold-out show at Vega earlier this year.

The beauty of this festival is its diversity, and for those who were skeptical about whether a band like this would fit the lineup or match the festival’s energy level—it’s likely they’ve never seen Skunk Anansie live. Delivering at their own headlining shows is one thing, but let’s not forget when they essentially blew away Bullet For My Valentine, Volbeat, Slash, and perhaps even Rammstein at the 2010 Copenhagen Festival.

The band took the stage with the confidence of a band that knows it can win over just about any audience. It did, however, take Skin the first song to get fully warmed up vocally—just in time for one of the heaviest songs Copenhell heard that day: the mighty “Charlie Big Potato.”

There’s such energy and positivity to Skunk Anansie’s live presence and as for the trio of Mark Richardson, Martin ‘Ace’ Kent, and Richard ‘Cass’ Lewis, the tightness and groove in their playing are a massive part of what makes Skunk Anansie’s live show so compelling. And then there’s the one-woman army that is Skin—whose charisma, charm, and raw energy elevate every song and every moment. At age 57, she shows no signs of slowing down. Her performance and presence are an inspiration to just about any other frontman/frontwoman out there.

There was a technical hiccup with the bass at a crucial moment—right when Skin was introducing bassist Lewis and he was supposed to open “Twisted (Everyday Hurts)” with its signature bassline. But once the tech team resolved the issue and Lewis launched into that groove, it felt like the audience erupted with even more energy.

Classics were definite highlights, but the new material held its own—especially “An Artist Is an Artist.”

“Weak” became the biggest singalong of the show, and during “I Can Dream,” Skin plunged deep into the crowd, eventually crowd-surfing her way back to the stage just in time for the primal closer: “Little Baby Swastikkka,” from their 1995 debut.

Skunk Anansie delivered—big time—once again proving that they are simply incapable of putting on a weak show.

SETLIST

1. This Means War
2. Charlie Big Potato
3. Because of You
4. An Artist Is an Artist
5. Twisted (Everyday Hurts)
6. Cheers
7. Lost and Found
8. Animal
9. Weak
10. I Can Dream
11. Little Baby Swastikkka