The Streets

Having missed the first support act, Jimothy Lacoste (sorry, Jim), we arrived to a performance from grime MC Casisdead. He may have won the Brit award for Best rap artist in 2024, and been branded ‘Britain’s best rapper’ by genre legends Dizzee Rascal and ASAP Rocky, but as an outsider, to whom the music was unfamiliar, the tracks came across as crude and outdated, with misogynistic and objectifying lyrics. Cas has often been compared to Mike Skinner, justifying his place on this line-up, but that goes to show just how incomparable The Streets’ shtick really is. 

The concert begins, as advertised, with a complete, 11-track reenactment of Skinner’s second studio album, which he plays completely in character, as a fatigued, hapless, down-on-his-luck on-the-doll chappie, often facing away from the stage as he performs, or delivering long rap monologues over a phone. The Streets artistically blend the rap and grime they are known for with R&B and soul elements, and the inclusion of a female singer really helps to add life to the album. Although the crowd is fully immersed throughout, despite chowing down on burgers and beers, it is the album's undisputed anthems, Blinded by the Lights and Fit but you know it that get everybody jumping up and down, bobbing their heads, and screaming out the infectious choruses word-for-word. The centrepiece is, of course, Dry Your Eyes which, unironically - unlike the rest of the material, for which you could argue an element of irony is required to enjoy it - is a bloody good song. 

Following a brief intermission, Skinner storms back onto the stage, out of the character he performed for the album show, and into his usual bashful, hilarious self. With Turn the Page, from his first album Original Pirate Material, it becomes an entirely different gig, full of audience interactions, crowdsurfs and mosh pits. For Don't Mug Yourself, Skinner even made his way to the back of the crowd, giving those who might not have had the chance to push their way to the barrier a chance to see his magic up close. Making his way back to the front, he comments on one crowd member's pink flamingo. “What does that stand for?” he asks the man, a sentiment we have all felt whenever we see a cowboy hat at an indie gig. He then has a rant about seagulls, and talks about the undulating waves he feels when he serves the crowd. The usual genius nonsense that Skinner speaks. After a modernized techno version of Weak Become Heroes (which slaps!), the crowd goes wild for Take Me as I am, a perfectly timed, crazy house music finale. Bash Skinner all you like, but you cannot deny him the status of one of our greatest showmen, and an ever-surprising innovator on the Indie scene.