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The Streets @ Rock City

Will Griffin

The Mic's Will Griffin took a trip down to Rock City to see Mike Skinner's project The Streets live in concert.


A dark and damp evening began with support from Master Peace. Declaring LCD Soundsystem and indie sleaze as inspiration for their work, there was little ambiguity as to the sound the Morden born rapper was embracing. Facing a light crowd emerging only ten minutes after doors, it was always going to be a tough slot to fill, and the unabashed reference to Skins towards its conclusion was just too on the nose for me.


Next was Hak Baker, quintessentially East London and perhaps the happiest man in Nottingham that night, his fusion of punk and reggae, folk and grime sat amongst the occasional exclamation of ‘Oi oi!’ to a rapturous response from a crowd now filling, and well up for his anti-Tory, anti-authority, and anti-police sentiment. It was near impossible to not be charmed by his pretenceless performance, fuelled by the bottle of Captain Morgan’s passed around amongst his band.



Then to the familiar pulse of Turn The Page as we awaited Skinner’s appearance on stage. Twenty years may have passed since Original Pirate Material, but he wears them well, hands in the crowd as he stands on the barrier at the song’s climax. He’s backed by an extensive band as well as long time collaborator Kevin Mark Trail, who provides support on vocals. The set itself is remarkable. A comprehensive tour of Skinner’s work from the inception of The Streets in his bedroom to newly released The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, hitting all of the highs a packed Rock City wanted.


Skinner is at his best when the gig becomes a collaborative affair. Don’t Mug Yourself begins with a stage dive from the steps to the bar, beginning a long running concern that Skinner ‘hit a Spanish bloke in the face’ mid dive, seemingly an excuse to get the Moet out. It’s Too Late begins with Skinner asking a woman on the barrier if she will meet him at ‘the curry house, the one between the arches’, all amongst a repeated theme of Skinner telling the crowd ‘Lord Byron was the first real rock star’ but that we shouldn’t be like Lord Byron for a multitude of reasons that probably shouldn’t be repeated in print.


‘Sea of people all equal, smiles in front and behind me’ felt especially true of that evening, a crowd almost transported back to the halcyon days of rave the song gives reference to.

A personal highlight of the evening is Weak Become Heroes, one of Skinner’s lyrical masterpieces, supported superbly by the live band. ‘Sea of people all equal, smiles in front and behind me’ felt especially true of that evening, a crowd almost transported back to the halcyon days of rave the song gives reference to. Skinner’s recent efforts in the form of The Streets have felt more and more to be diminishing returns. None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive and The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light both feel at times lost; a forty-year-old Skinner is not as pertinent as the twenty-three-year-old that gave Has It Come to This to the world. But on stage that couldn’t be less true. The early albums carry their punch, and Skinner is right there with them.


An encore is possibly the worst kept secret of the evening, as Skinner and co return to close with three bangers. Dry Your Eyes (forever now associated in my eyes with that Scott Parker edit) is followed by the legendary Blinded by the Lights. Skinner works his way through the audience with a bottle of champagne, the crowd obliges as the routine of what will follow has been well drilled into us over the last hour. Skinner reiterates finally that he’s going to make his way down the stairs, into the crowd, over to the Spanish bloke who may or may not have been kicked (his nationality also dubious), and it is then, and only then, when we see a spray of champagne, and the DnB banger Take Me As I Am kicks in, we are to go mad. The crowd obliges and no one leaves the gig dry or without a bruise. One of the best gigs of at least the last twelve months. The Streets will forever be masters of the rave.


Will Griffin

 

Edited by Tabitha Smith


Featured Image courtesy of The Streets via Instagram

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