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Skunk Anansie at Skellefteċ Festivalen, Sweden June 28th 1997 |
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Skunk Anansie had a gig in Finland in November 96, but I became a fan just after the concert. I borrowed Stoosh from a friend of mine and bought it for my self right the next day. I knew they weren't going to come back for some time so I went to see SA on 28th of June 97, when they were performing at Skellefte Festivalen in Skellefteċ, Sweden. We arrived at Skellefteċ by boat on 28th, 3am. We took a bus to the Center of Skellefteċ , where we tried to find a place to camp, cause we didn't want to pay the camping area fee. We checked out the festival area, dreaming of the upcoming concert. Finally at 5am, we gave up, walked to the camping area and built up our little tent. Next day was full of waiting. Finally
after long hours we bought our tickets to the festival.
At the festival area we met Shaun, a SA-staff member.
This friends of mine, Monna, she had met Shaun before
after the Skunk concert in Finland. Well, Shaun invited
us to an after-show-party, we agreed to meet him after
the show. We also saw Cass walking around the festival
area, but we didn't want to disturb him then. We decided
to wait until we got t he party... So the concert began
with "Yes, It's Fucking Political". We drifted
around with the crowd, and before I realised, I was
almost next to the stage. The crowd was going nuts, one
really had to fight to survive. And we did! After the concert we met Shaun again. He told us to come back in half an hour, cause he had some work to do. We walked back to the camping area, quickly changed our clothes and walked back. But there's was no sign of Shaun. We were told that he had to leave because of work-matters. You can't believe how disappointed we were. That's when Mark showed up. We told him about our little problem. Cause Mark is such a nice guy, he decided to help us. We walked with him to this club, where the party was held. It was for invited people only, but we got it, cause Mark said to the guard that "we are his friends" (cool!).
We met Cass and Ace, but no sign of Skin. Mark (who was by the way A BIT drunk) and Ace left kind of soon, but Cass stayed to party. They had come to Sweden straight from their US-tour and they all were a bit tired, though they said they enjoyed the USA. We danced and had fun until 5am. Cass said they're gonna release a new album probably by the end of this year. He also said that if we wanted to meet Skin, take photos/ask autographs, we should come and have breakfast with them at the hotel they were staying in. Sure, why not!?! So next morning (after 20min of sleep) we went to the hotel, marched in and had breakfast with Skunk Anansie! We sat with Mark and Cass, but we had a few words with Skin too. She said it was nice meeting us, but believe me; it was our pleasure!!! After the breakfast we took some photos and Skin shook our hands and said goodbye. What a trip that was!!! A little video (viv-file) of the gig. E.g. the new Real Audio can play viv-files. |
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After the long, LONG waiting we Finns got Skunk Anansie to play in our little northern country again. The gig wasn't actually around my neighborhood, and it took 4 hours to travel by train, from Helsinki to Seinäjoki, but cause it's SA, I would've gone much further to see them. We arrived sometime after two, day time. Skunk-showtime was 0.30am, so we had plenty of time to set up the tent and smell the festivalspirit (the smell of alcohol and stinking festival toilets). Around 7pm I heard the distant rhythm of Charlie Big Potato, "Yes, it's Skunk Anansie playing their soundcheck, just around the corner!" I felt the excitement in my stomach, just few more hours...then it's SKUNK TIME!! Before joining the massive audience, I spent almost every penny on the new SA-shirts, normal and skinny POC-t-shirts and the Skankhead-shirt. Now I've got..hmm..7 SA-shirts + the UK version of the skinny POC-shirt (long sleeves) that I gave to my friend. I won it in a competition but I don't quite fit into size 34!! Love em all, can't live without em! During the evening I moved a little closer to the stage, little by little, and finally after a finnish band called CMX had finished their set, I was right in front of the stage. The stage crew put everything ready for the skunkgig, meanwhile I saw Ace hanging around on the side of the stage. Then finally, the loop of Charlie Big Potato filled our ears. Soon Skin and the band was on stage kicking ass!!! I can't remember the ecxact order of the songs, but between the new songs from the P.O.C. (Charlie Big Potato, We Don't Need Who You Think You Are, Tracy's Flaw, The Skank Heads, Lately, Secretly, Cheap Honesty, You'll Follow Me Down) we got the hear the older hits from Stoosh and P&S (Twisted, We Love Your Apathy, Milk Is My Sugar, Hedonism (encore), Selling Jesus, Weak, I Can Dream, Little Baby Swastikka (encore). During Weak Skin jumped down to the crowd, just image the pushing and shoving in the audience. Everyone wanted to touch the skin of Skin!
During the gig I managed to take some pics which you can see on the photos-section. Most of them were pretty dark and inaccurate, I had a flash on my camera, but it was a bit hard to use it properly in that crowd. At some point Skin decided to have a little fun with the press, and tapped the head of an elder photographer-guy. I'd like to get my hands on his photos, cause Skin was just a few centimeter from his camera! They ended the gig with "We Love Your Apathy", but returned to play an encore to the apploding and screaming audience. "Hedonism" and "Little Baby Swastikka" ended this brilliant gig. Mark threw his drumsticks to the audience, I almost caught one but this bigger guy next to me got his hand on it just before me... damn. On the whole the gig just made me more sure of the fact that Skunk Anansie is most definetly the best live group ever!! Groovy guitar sounds and solos, the kickass drum'n bass section, and the goddess-like, jumping and partying Skin, nothing can beat that!! I don't know how she does it but Skin sings in perfect tune, even after all the jumping! What a voice, what an expression, what a woman!! The flirting with the audience was just the cherry on the top. One can't help but to feel like flying after a gig like that!!
After the most perfect stageshow I found my friends, who had watched the gig from a distance. It was around 2 am and I was wondering wether to go hang around the hotel SA was staying in or not. It was getting chilly, I was wearing shorts, the hotel was 5 km away and there were no buses going to or from the festival area to the city centre anymore. My friends (not skunkfans :( ) headed back to the tents, and I made a decicion to follow them and not walk with my aching bleeding feet to the city in the dark cold night by my self . But boy did I feel sorry the next day!! Now I have to wait AGES to get another chance to meet and greet the Skunks! My friend Monna, who I was in Sweden to see da skunkz in -97 with, was during the Provinssirock in Italy, but got a chance to go to the Imola-gig on 19th of June, right the next day! She met the band again, like we did in -97. She got to have a word with Skin, who remembered us from Skellefteċ, and she sent me her greetings!! The best greetings I've ever had, for sure!!!! The band told that the next singles to be released are "Lately" and "You'll Follow Me Down". She also got Ace's Provinssirock backstage pass, all of their autographs and a single signed by Mark and Ace. She got to know Skunk Anansie's manager, and she said that next time we see Skunks, all we gotta do is say "hi!" and we'll be hanging with da Skunkz. So I hope we'll get the chance to see them, SOON! I'll post her story here as well, as soon as I get it and ofcourse with her permission! |
