SKUNK ANANSIE, Manchester Academy, 18-8-19

Forgot to say, when we were staying at Hotel Rob, he said they’d be leaving very early, so he gave Jim a key for the flat.
Today (Sunday) the train would depart from Euston at 11.19 arriving Manchester Piccadilly 13.50.
I’ve been to Manchester numerous times for multiple bands, but today, I had trouble getting my bearings correct! After finding the hotel, myself & Jim went to the venue. There were a few people already there. Had a wander to the other side of the venue & saw a security guy.
Asked him if he could find Pete (TM). It wasn’t who I expected to come out ; it was Cass. He then gave us AAA Laminates ( ! ) & took us in.
I thought I remembered a very small balcony, so Cass too us up there. As there was no seating there, Cass opened a door where the bar was. He brought through a small square pouffe so I could sit on that later (Think he also got one for Jim also). Ok we were now set up for later on. We followed Cass downstairs, as we were walking along behind him he said ” What are you doing when you go out ” I replied, “We’re going to find a place that does food”. He then said “Why don’t you get food from the catering in here?” So we did ! I think he took us through to the room where a few people were already having food, after which he took us to catering.(Have a feeling he said to the caterers, it’s ok for these 2 to have food. The list of food that was available, looked very nice! Gave our orders,& the lass said “I’ll bring the through to you when done”. What a service 🙂 Oh, forgot to say that Mark & his parents were also sat in the food room. A couple of the crew came in later to have their food. When they finished, they went back to get desserts. They looked very appetizing… I was already thinking “I’d like one of those”
We had the main course, then went to get a dessert ! When we got back, one of the crew guys said ” You dirty bastard ! ” 😉 Pot>kettle ?
Yes, it was so yummy & also saved us a few quid 😉 Somewhere along the way, we bumped into skin. I said to her “I was wondering why, at Brixton, you all did one song 5 times ?” Then as some people will already know by now, it was because Paul Weller was gonna step up onstage ! I did ask her how it came about, but can’t remember her reply. But all being said, a unique experience or what ??!!!
When we got back in the balcony, the “seats” had gone. Had a word with security & told him I need a seat as cannot stand up for very long. His reply was “We need room here for 70 people!” I think he then went to get me a seat.
Enough of me rambling Got to say, I’m not so interested in the support bands. I think I saw “Queen Zee” open for Garbage, so I’d already made up my opinion.
But I will say, in my opinion, the best support act they’ve has was “The Virginmarys” (I think that was the 2010 tour) I thought they had the potential to make it big…a few years later, I found out they had “problems” with their management and that led to them doing it all themselves. If you’ve not heard The Virginmarys, have a look on their website www.thevirginmarys.com OR Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheVirginmarysOfficial/along 😉

After enduring Queen Zee, we were ready for the mighty Skunk Anansie. I felt sure I took a few photos, but when I got back home there weren’t any photos on the memory card! But there were about 4 video clips 🙂 Oh forgot to say, when we bumped into skin earlier I asked here why she didn’t do the soundcheck (in Manchester) . As expected, she was saving her voice as they had a 3 day run of gigs. I’m not going to do a full review, I’ll just “Let The Music Do The Talking”

When it had finished, we got back to the hotel quicker than I thought it would be 😉