The Streets

Ever since Mike Skinner - AKA The Streets gained critical success with his debut LP ‘Original Pirate Material’ in 2002, he’s been championed as the great white hope (excuse the pun) of UK hip-hop. With the release of his third Album ‘The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living’, The Streets has made the concious decision to sing about his new life of fame & fortune, but with the current tour promoting it’s release, how would the audience react to the new material & could Skinner’s geezer persona maintain its authenticity when so many alternative & hip-hip artists have failed to do so after becoming successful in the past?

The Streets took to the Manchester Apollo stage in the outfit of a man newly minted - Bling Jewellery, Aviator Sunglasses & pristine white Reeboks so fresh they still had the tags on. With space invader graphics behind him & a bar set up on the front of the drum kit, this is a man that certainly appears to be having a lot of fun. Despite this, however, it’s hard to see that Skinner is 100% convinced about his change in status. While he’s undeniably enjoying some of the trappings his new life, the set list for the gig stayed firmly rooted in his past.


Backed by his three piece band & co-singer Leo the Lion, Skinner’s first track was the new ‘Prangin’ Out’ – a story of drug fuelled tour excess & his subsequent contemplation of suicide. After this introduction, the back catalogue beckoned. Songs such as ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ (with ‘I bet you look on the Dance floor’ smoothly worked in) & ‘Let’s Push Things Forward’ set up a show that seemed to be made up primarily with tunes from his debut release. In fact, during the nineteen-song performance, only five of the tracks came from the current release.

While Leo the Lion did most of the vocal work, Skinner kept himself occupied flirting with a girl in the front row (‘Don’t ya wish ya boyfriend was hot like me’), constantly threatening to jump from the speaker stacks into the crowd & supervising the road crew handing out free drinks. While all this mugging around played well to the audience, it wasn’t enough to combat the definite loss of crowd interest as the show started to sag in the middle. For every ‘When You Wasn’t Famous’ or ‘War of The Sexes’ that threatened to ignite the crowd, the insertion of a Ballad, a technical glitch or forgotten lyric seemed to appear & spoil the party.

It wasn’t until the finale’s ‘Dry Your Eyes’ & the encore’s ‘Fit But You Know It’ that it seemed Skinner was willing to give the songs his full attention. These, his two most successful singles & his subsequent crowd surf brought the house down.



Maybe I’m reading too much into Skinner’s Manchester Performance, but as a fan of The Streets, I fear there’s a danger that he may end up obsolete before his time. The new album is a brave attempt to continue his tradition of talking about his real experiences, but if the man himself isn’t convinced the audience wants to hear about it, he may be better off giving the whole lot away so he can go back to writing genuine songs about being on the dole & chatting up birds down the chip shop.

FUTURE GIGS